Playing With Dragons
by Dragon6125
Summary: VirtualReality!AU. When Celestial introduces One Piece's new Special Events, Sabo starts to suspect that something's amiss. He needs answers, but what he finds is more disturbing than he'd imagined. He has to let the people know, but he may come to regret ever publishing what he's found because when you Play with Dragons... you might get Burned. (No Major Pairings, Slow Build)
1. Ch 1: The Beginning Prt 1

A/N: Some Tags from AO3 that are only fair if I post them here as well:

Characters: Sabo, Ace, Luffy, Koala, Kid, and Robin. Among many many others. I won't name them all for that reason, just the ones that play a key role in the story going forward with each arc.

Sabo-centric, Modern/Virtual Reality AU, No Major Pairings (Minor Shanks/Makino and Implied Corabelle), Slow Build. Plot Isn't immediately obvious.

Occasional Bad Language, Canon-Typical Violence, Major/Minor Character Deaths, Heavy Dose of Conspiracy, A lot of characters come and go on a chapter by chapter basis (all depends on what's going on at the time)

Mystery/Drama/Humor with some Fluff and Angst.

Blend of the Modern and Virtual Worlds. Some Characters have alternate names because of this. No named characters are OCs. Everybody who's anybody is somebody. Hence the above-mentioned alternate names. Gets increasingly more Sci-Fi as the story progresses.

Anywho, without further ado:

* * *

 **Chapter One**

The break room was hardly worth calling a room. It felt more like a storage closet with metal shelves lining the walls crammed full of binders, books, stacks of paper, and scattered knickknacks and if it wasn't a shelf, it was a stack of boxes full of more of the same. Against one wall was a mini-fridge with a microwave perched on top of it, and in the center of all of that mess was a table with four chairs tucked up against it. One of these chairs was occupied.

Sabo sat at the table, fingers tapping away at the keys on his laptop. The end of a fork was held between his teeth, bobbing every time he shifted his jaw, and the lunch that required it sat mostly forgotten on his right. A notification appeared in the top right corner of his screen and he paused in his typing to glance at it, pulling himself out of his work zone.

 _NikonFlash has sent you a message VIA One Piece:  
_ " _Here are the pictures you requested!"  
_ _Click Here To Respond_

"Sweet." Sabo whispered around his fork as he clicked on the notification, pulling up a basic chat window. He clicked on the downloadable file and waited for a second, pulling the fork out from between his teeth.

Sabo stared at the fork. Why did he… right. He was on his break. He was supposed to be eating lunch. He looked at his long cold meal and shrugged, sticking his fork into the container full of left over stroganoff. His neighbor had given it to him on his way out of the house that morning. He stuck a single bite of the noodle, mushroom, and meatball mixture into his mouth and chewed, eyeing the download wheel and wondering why it was taking so long to get the files. Makino's meals were alwa—

A notification appeared saying that the download was complete and he abandoned his thought, his fork situated between his teeth once more as he clicked on the open file option. He made a quick scan of the contents before selecting the chat window and typing out the message: " _Thanks, Flash. They're perfect,_ " And hitting enter before he even took a really good look at them. In the months that he had known the photographer, he'd long since learned to be confident in the images that she provided.

He turned to examine the first of the images when another message notification appeared from his friend,

NikonFlash: Sabo, what did I tell you!? You can call me Koala now!

Sabo snickered and quickly typed a message back.

dragonlord23: Still can't believe your name is Koala.

NikonFlash: Listen here, Dragon-boy, I happen to love koalas and my name is perfectly acceptable.

dragonlord23: I never said that I didn't like it! It's quite the contrary; I think it's kinda cute.

Sabo turned his attention back to the first of the provided images. "So, that's Sir Crocodile." He hummed in thought as he studied his features, fork bobbing up and down between his teeth once more. There was something was awfully familiar about the man standing high above the digital streets of Nanohana with his arms spread wide as if in welcome to the people. Sabo peered at the background of the image and realized that Koala would have had to climb to the top of one of the Alabastian Towers to take that picture and he laughed. Koala never ceased to amaze him with her crazy dedication to getting the perfect shot.

The first image had been a wide shot that appeared to have been taken from the left and slightly behind Crocodile, getting a glimpse down into the courtyard below. The courtyard was unusually full of what he assumed was a large crowd of NPCs.

A second photo had been taken from a slightly different angle that was not so much behind and more direct at Crocodile's profile, giving Sabo a glimpse of a long scar that stretched across the bridge of his nose and his left cheek in a straight line. A third shot was zoomed in closer to Crocodile's face, which had turned slightly towards the camera, confirming that the scar was mirrored on the other side as well. Another zoomed in shot was angled downward, focusing on the golden hook, wich took the place of his left hand, which was peaking out from under Crocodile's fluffy green coat with thin white stripes.

The last image of the set wasn't an image at all, which explained why the file had taken so long (in reality it was probably only 15 seconds, if that) to download. The last file had been a video. It wasn't often that Koala used the in-game streaming/recording function to record what she was seeing, so he was mildly curious about what was going. He pondered what might have been so important she felt she had to record it rather than just send him images of it as he clicked play and let the footage roll.

"I'm just going to apologize in advance in case you get motion sick watching this, but I'm running towards a spot that I had scoped out for photos and things just started happening. You have to hear this." Koala's voice greeted him, her words coming in short bursts as she tried to sprint her way through the crowd of NPCs; the sounds of their cries were nearly drowning out her voice. They were calling out to Crocodile, relief in their voices as they declared themselves saved. They called him their savior, their hero, the protector of Alabasta, and the King of the Desert. There were NPC pirates, something that Sabo could never recall having seen before, also scattered through the square. They were paused in their attack as they laughed and questioned Crocodile's real strength. He was just a single man after all, but Sabo had been playing enough of One Piece to know that a single man could make all the difference.

Koala shifted her gaze from the people as she broke out of the crowd and turned upwards to reveal a shaky version of Crocodile standing atop that tower as bullets passed right through him. So a logia user then, Sabo concluded as Koala's attention shifted once more to focus on a band of pirates before the footage ended.

Sabo checked the remaining time left on the video, but before he could even read it the footage had started up again and redirected his attention. It was significantly quieter now, he noted, and much steadier. But the footage was focused on an empty patch of sky. "I missed the beginning of all of this while I was climbing the tower, but holy crap, Dragon-boy. You gotta check this guy out." The video motion blurred as Koala quickly shifted her gaze downwards to the city square. Sabo wondered what-oh. _Oh_. Sabo's eyebrows shot upwards as he took in the sandstorm that obscured the courtyard from view. Sabo could actually hear the screams of people coming in through the feed now.

"He's definitely _the_ Crocodile, one of the seven warlords like we suspected" Koala voiced. "And apparently a Sand logia type. The readers will certainly want to know about this." She mused.

"Oh yeah. They definitely will want to know." Sabo agreed around the fork situated between his teeth before reminding himself that this was a video feed and not a chat. He watched the storm begin to subside to reveal the pirates laying on the ground in total defeat, the townspeople scattered about relatively unharmed. It was only a few brief moments before the people started cheering again.

A bell chimed, echoing from what seemed like everywhere at once and yet nowhere at all, signaling a system announcement. Koala's gaze shifted towards the sky where a message was being displayed in large gold lettering, "Special Event: Clash! Alabasta's Plight! Will begin tomorrow!"

"And there we have it. Let the games begin!" Koala laughed. "Let me know if you think we should get some people together and try it out ourselves." And then the video ended.

Sabo remained frozen for a moment, staring blankly at the repeat option displayed in the video window as he took in all of the information that he had just learned. He pulled the fork from between his teeth and took another absent-minded bite of his cold meal. So Crocodile was definitely one of the seven warlords that had been laced into the game's lore since the beginning, but having never made an appearance themselves. He had thought that Koala's reminder that he was one of the warlords would shake the feeling of recognition from him, but there was still something nagging at the back of his mind about it and he couldn't quite place it. Sabo turned his gaze to the article he had been working on during his lunch break as he stuck his tongue between his teeth and his cheek in thought.

"Hey, Sabo? You done with your break yet? I need you to run register." The voice of his boss, Chris, called from outside the open door of the break room. Sabo dropped his fork back into his meal in surprise and glanced at the doorway before turning his gaze to the clock in the corner of his laptop screen. He realized with a shock that his break had ended ten minutes ago. Sabo turned his gaze back to his unfinished meal chilling beside him. "Uh… right. Yeah. Whatever. Yup, I'm coming." He smacked the container's lid back down on top of it and sealed it shut as he stood, pushing the lid of his laptop closed. Picking up the container, he circled the table and approached the mini-fridge on the other side, placing his unfinished within. He straightened and turned, nearly tripping over his own shoelaces as Chris poked his head through the doorway.

Of course. Trip in front of your boss. "I swear to god Tontattas are real" Sabo grumbled as he kneeled down to tie the laces of his grey converse. "How else do your shoes come untied while you're sitting down?" he grouched.

"You've been playing a little too much One Piece lately, Sabs. Especially if you've met the Tontattas." Chris chided as Sabo pulled the leg of his jeans back down to his ankle and stood.

Sabo? Playing too much One Piece? Impossible. His play schedule was perfectly reasonable. A minimum of four hours a day wasn't that much. Seven or eight if he had a day off during the week… just until Luffy got back from Soccer practice and Ace was working or sleeping that day and he didn't have any homework to do. Besides. Sabo was a journalist for the digital paper, it was just job to play One Piece. "I write for the News Coo, remember? I have to be on top of things like this." Sabo insisted as he approached the doorway.

Chris sidestepped in order to let Sabo through the door. "Yeah, whatever. You keep telling yourself that, buddy," his boss was totally not buying it if the pat on the back as he passed was anything to go by. "Right well, I'm going on my own break now. I know you didn't actually eat, so you're allowed a free candy bar to hold you over till I get back. Just make sure you write it down." Chris informed him as he back-peddled with practiced ease through the organized mess that was the storefront of his small shop. "Want anything?" He added as he paused by the front door.

"Just bring me back a mountain dew, I can pay you back." Sabo requested as he shifted the position of the chair behind the counter.

"Don't worry about paying me back! I've got it covered. Be back shortly." Chris amended as he pulled open the door to the shop, the little bell attached to the doorframe chiming as he went.

"It better not be coming out of my paycheck then!" Sabo called after him. The closing of the glass door cut off Chris's laughter as the man waved good-bye and walked out of view. Sabo huffed and scanned the small store for any customers that might be hiding amongst the merchandise.

Summit City Games & Comics, the one shop stop for all your analog geeking needs. The shelves at the front of the store were all crammed full of board games and card games of every kind – new and old. The last renaissance of tabletop, face-to-face gaming having filled the store with games of just about every style and genre. On display a top the short book shelves were small package card games and merchandise of all geeky varieties. The wall across from the register and to his right were covered in racks of comic books, art books, guidebooks, and rulebooks and rows of tables by the wall to his left were covered with boxes of more comic books arranged alphabetically, and even more boxes were stacked underneath them. There was a door in the back corner of the store that led into the game room full of tables and chairs, ready for game nights and the front desk itself was a display case that spanned almost half of the wall it sat against. There was a section for dice of all shapes, sizes, colors, and designs, followed by a section with valuable cards for classic card games like Magic: The Gathering, Pokémon, and Yu-Gi-Oh that were so valuable they couldn't just be displayed out in the open like the boxes and binders full of cards sitting on top of the display case were. One the other side of the dice was video game, comic book, and anime figures on sale. What was left of the wall space around the front desk were deck boxes, dice bags, miniatures, miniature-painting supplies, collectors items, and card game packages. In short, Summit City Games & Comics was the perfect nest for any nostalgic nerd. Sabo definitely included.

Having confirmed that there were, indeed, no customers to be seen out front, he ventured in back to check the game rooms to make sure no where wasn't anyone back there running a private game or anything that Chris might have forgotten to mention. There was no one there. He wasn't concerned that the store was empty at lunchtime on a Tuesday. Most of their business came in on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights. Often times, this time of year those days were their only business, but that was about to change. Finals had just wrapped up at the college (Sabo inwardly celebrated that one and was waiting impatiently to find out his final grades), but High School would still be in session for another month. It was then that the weekends would start to get a little hectic.

Thursday night card game nights were popular with the high school and college students. Friday nights were board game nights, which Sabo was noticing an age bracket shift for in the last couple years. More of the younger kids were starting to get into them where it used to be just older college students and adults. Then Saturday nights were the tabletop gaming nights, which consisted of their only consistent customers. They met every Saturday night without fail so they could progress the story lines of their various campaigns (the information for which were stored on the shelves of the break room). Sunday was a day that he'd discovered the regulars dedicated to playing One Piece together. When they had learned Sabo was an invested player, they'd all clamored for him to join their Crew: The Summit City Pirates. Sabo had declined joining the crew, but he'd agreed to meet up with them a few times in-game.

Game nights at Summit City Games were long nights, often stretching 'til one or two in the morning before the store officially closed up shop for the night. He felt kind of bad about that because, if he wasn't out late at work, then he was attending his evening classes at the university or doing homework and studying, so his time spent with his brothers (specifically Luffy) had been reduced to Sundays, breakfast before school, and dinner on Thursdays. Sabo felt bad about all that, but he needed to work to pay for his classes and he loved his job, which made it easier. But he still couldn't shake the bad feeling.

Sabo had been starting to notice little things about his little brother. The falter in his smile every time Sabo said that he had too much homework to do; the excited squeal and the arms that wrapped a little too tight around his torso when he made it home in time to cook dinner; the small pout when Sabo admitted that he was too tired to hang out and he needed to go to bed. A pout that would quickly dissolve into a smile at the promise of snacks, but disappeared immediately after Sabo had his back turned (he'd caught it once, when Luffy thought that he was no longer looking). Sabo was noticing all these things and more, and he knew that he'd have to make it up to Luffy… and soon, especially now that the semester was over and he had more free time.

But it wasn't just him who wasn't around… it was Ace as well. Ace's work at the fire station came in bursts. He worked a twenty-four hour shift, then got two days off (one of which he spent sleeping), then after that break he would work three twelve hour night shifts, followed by four fourteen hour day shifts, and then got three days off before the cycle started again. But, when there was a big fire anywhere within a thirty-mile radius of Summit City, he'd get called in to help even if it was his day off. He could be out for days fighting fires on shifts with the other departments until the fire was out. He'd always come home exhausted and occasionally wouldn't even make it all the way through the doorway before he'd fall asleep in the hallway, dead to the world. His days off were always spent sleeping or trying not to fall asleep and by the time he was well rested and energetic, he was working again.

They'd both missed so many of Luffy's soccer games that Luffy had stopped bothering to invite them at all. Sabo had noticed that Luffy no longer even put the game schedule for the month up on the fridge and that had been Sabo's serious wake-up call. He'd asked Luffy about it and Luffy told him it was fine and that work and school and homework and all of that were more important. He then declared that he was a star athlete, best soccer player in the league, and had been offered full-ride scholarships to colleges around the country. He said that he wasn't lonely because the whole school loved him and wanted to be friends with him, but Luffy had never once offered him a name for even one of these apparently numerous friends of his. He never mentioned going out to hang with friends, or told stories about the people he hung out with… and Sabo was beginning to suspect that Luffy had been lying. Lying for a very long time.

Sabo frowned as he browsed the comic book shelves, selecting a few of the newer ones to take back with him to the front desk and read so that he had something he could do to pass the time. Pros of working at a comic book store, he didn't have to buy the comics.

As Sabo placed the comic books down next to the register, he remembered what he was doing before he got called out to the front and headed into the back room to collect his laptop and bring it back with him to the front, grabbing a large Twix candy bar before sitting down on the black office chair. He ripped open the package and half removed one of the cookies and fit it between his teeth, prying open his laptop and quickly keying the password before he could start drooling all over the front desk. He grabbed the package before using his teeth to break off the chunk that was in his mouth and started to chew, examining the word file that contained his article and the window that contained the pictures Koala had sent him. He nudged the snack stick further out of it's package and took another bite as he eyed the notification in his task bar that told him Koala had responded, but he ignored the message in favor of working on the article and adding in all of the new information that his friend had gathered for him.

 _ **First Ever Special Event: Clash! Alabasta's Plight!**_

 _Written by dragonlord23_

 _Two weeks ago, Celestial announced that it would be brining us it's first ever, special event within the world of One Piece since the VRMMO went live two years ago. It has since been revealed that these events will become a regular occurrence with the world of pirates. Once every two weeks they plan to bring us a new story and a new boss complete with glorious prizes. Each event will last a week, so be sure to test your crew's strength and wits before it passes. The first crew to complete the event will receive extra bonus rewards and the guarantee of a devil fruit to be amongst the spoils. Expect Sandy Island to be inaccessible as a normal quest hub for the duration of the event. The island will only be open to challengers and only one group of challengers may tackle the event at a time. We have a feeling here at the News Coo that it's going to take more than brawn to best this challenge._

 _So what's in store for the players tomorrow? Not much is known about the story of Alabasta's plight, but our expert photographer has brought us photos that reveal the identity of one of the seven warlords of the sea. Yes, you read that right. The face of Crocodile, one of the warlords, has been revealed. He seems to play a critical role in the story of Alabasta. He's a logia type user in possession of the Sand Sand fruit and he's seen below whipping up a sand storm to take out a group of pirates terrorizing the city of Nanohana. It was these events on Sandy Island that triggered the start of the count down to tomorrow's event. It is still unknown whether or not Crocodile is a player or an AI, but either way, the Hero of Alabasta is expected to play a prominent role within the Special Event._

 _Until now, the faces of the seven warlords have been kept tightly under wraps by Celestial, their names being the only things revealed to us through stories and rumors from the NPCs within the game. They've been hinting at these people for a long time and we're excited to see what the future of One Piece looks like with the addition of these special events that may continue to feature Warlords as key players. It's sure to spice up the game play all over again._

 _Expect for the One Piece server to shut down between 3:30 PM and 5:30 PM CST in order to prepare for the opening of the event at 6:00 PM CST May 10th. We will update you with more information as it becomes available._

Sabo finished the last of his Twix bar and left the wrapper abandoned next to the register as he pulled the photos he wanted to use from the folder and into the document and then screen-shotted a frame from the video of Crocodile's attack. He ran a hand through his tousled blonde locks as he read the article through once more to check for errors. He made some changes here and there before using the keyboard shortcut to save the file, naming it "May 9th – dragonlord23" and saving it again for extra measure. He closed the word file and then opened the One Piece chat window and clicked on the tab labeled "News Coo." The tab opened up a group chat window with all of the writers for the in-game Newsletter for submission to their editor, Absa. He attached his file to an empty message and hit send.

"Alright. Now that that's done." Sabo sighed, closing the lid of his laptop and settling back in his chair, fingers drumming on the armrests as he looked around the empty store, subtly nodding his head. He abruptly stood and scooped up his laptop and took it back into the break room, slipping it into his messenger bag before returning to the register.

It was that moment that the front door chimed and Sabo reflexively called out "Welcome to Summit City, may I help you find anything?"

Chris' bark of laughter snagged his attention and Sabo eyed his fellow blonde as he made his way to the front desk. Sabo caught sight of the six-pack of mountain dew bottles that Chris brought in his wake, setting them down on the desk in front of Sabo. "Here you go, Sabs. Think of it as a thank you gift for all your hard work in my store. You don't need to pay me back; I'm your boss. I pay you. That's how this works. Besides, I know how fast you inhale Mountain Dew. It's all yours." Chris, contrary to what he said, removed one of the bottles from its plastic prison "But I'll still be taking one. As taxes." He joked.

"Better take four more then." Sabo laughed, nudging them closer to Chris.

Chris snorted in a poor attempt at suppressing a laugh before he set the one he had taken as 'taxes' in front of Sabo. "You're right." He picked up the rest of the bottles for himself. "Thanks for reminding me." And took them all with him into the break room, patting Sabo's shoulder along the way.

Sabo snickered as he picked up the bottle left for him, Chris' voice drifting out from the break room to tell him that the rest of the bottles would be waiting for him in the mini-fridge for whenever he wanted them.

Cracking open the bottle, Sabo took a long, refreshing, gulp of the sweet, yellow-green, carbonated beverage within and then set it down with a contented sigh. "I needed that." He breathed as he replaced the cap and picked up the first comic book from the stack he had brought up to the register and settled back to read.

* * *

About three hours later, the door opened with a chime of the bell. Sabo didn't even get a chance to spill out his automatic greeting as he organized the contents of one of the bookshelves when he was interrupted by a "Hey, nerds, anyone home? You're not buried under this mess are you?"

Sabo's head shot up and he stood, looking over the shelves as he gawked at their new visitor, "Ace! What the hell are _you_ doing here? Get lost on your way to the club?"

Ace laughed, "No-o! It's only half passed five! Much too early for the club. Luffy should be home from soccer practice already, and I just got off work. We need to talk about his present! His birthday is _tomorrow_. You did take off work tomorrow, right?" Ace reminded him as he navigated his way to where Sabo stood somewhere between Munchkins the card game and Naruto the board game.

"I'm pretty sure I did." Sabo answered. Suddenly panicking that he might have forgotten, he turned towards the door to the break room and called out "I don't have work tomorrow, right?"

"Nope!" Chris called back. "It's your brother's birthday, right?"

"Yeah!" Sabo affirmed before he turned his attention back to Ace. "I thought we already talked about his present, like, ages ago. You haven't already gotten it?"

Ace shook his head as he shifted his weight to one side, resting an elbow against the bookshelf to his left as his fingers played with the strings dangling from the hood of his sleeveless hoodie. "We've both been saving up our money for a while now and I think… I think that we should pool all the money that we've saved… and" Ace gritted his teeth, looking slightly hesitant before saying "I hate doing this because they do so much for us already, but ask Makino and Shanks if they can pitch in some money to help, too, because… because I think that we should get him one of the Celestial Dragon headsets." Ace declared, leveling Sabo with a determined look.

Sabo took a moment to let that soak in before his eyes widened in surprise, largely impart to Ace's willingness to ask for help with money, but when he thought about it… it really made sense why he was willing to. "You've been noticing, too?"

Ace nodded.

"Do you think that we can afford it?" Sabo asked, thinking about the outrageous price of the headset and how it had taken him two years to save up for one so he could eventually afford to buy one a few months after it's release.

"If it means that it'll make Luffy happy again, then I don't care if we can feasibly afford it or not. I'm sure that the neighbors would love to pitch in. They practically raised us. It could be a present from all of us together. You, Me, Makino, and Shanks. He'd be delighted to be getting anything at all, really. But this… he'll be more than thrilled to be getting one, especially once he tries it out for the first time. You know what One Piece is like; it's his dream world Sabo. We've been playing pirates since we were kids he would love it so much. You and I have both been playing for a while now, you longer than me. But…"

Sabo nodded, thinking about Luffy's reaction visiting the world of One Piece and he gave a soft smile "The system will let him in now that he's turning 17. It really is the perfect choice." Sabo agreed.

Ace nodded before furrowing his eyebrows slightly in thought, "Oh, Avô sent some money as well." He added.

"Gramps? So he's not…?" Sabo furrowed his eyebrows as well.

Ace scoffed "When was the last time that old Geezer stopped by? There's no way in hell he'll be showing up for Luffy's birthday, especially if he sent us some money for us to get him a gift with." Ace shook his head; "He doesn't even pay the bills anymore." He added as an after thought.

"Probably thinks that since the two of us are 20 now we should be able to handle it on our own." Sabo speculated.

"That does sound like him." Ace agreed.

Sabo thought back, trying to remember the last time he'd seen Ace and Luffy's grandfather, but an even older memory surfaced instead and he snickered.

"What are you laughing about?" Ace asked, looking and sounding a little accusatory.

"I was just remembering the first time I met Gramps. I'd been living with the two of you for six months already by the time he showed his face." Sabo reminisced.

Ace gave a curt laugh, his eyes lighting up at the memory "Yeah, surprised the hell out of him! Especially when Luffy and I started talking to him in English instead of Portuguese. It took him at least five minutes before he realized it."

"I'm pretty sure that was the only reason why he let me stay and didn't call the cops to send me home." Sabo laughed. "He looked at me and said," Sabo lowered his chin and cleared his throat before mimicking an exaggeratedly deep and gravelly voice "Brat, are you the one that's been teachin' them English?"

Ace pitched forward in laughter and had to turn and rest his forehead against the crook of his elbow to stay standing. He struggled to catch his breath as he tried to talk "And you!" he broke into laughter once again "You… I'll never forget it! You looked him straight in the eyes without a single hint of fear. You were always a ballsy kid; I'll give you that. He didn't intimidate you at all! Even though you were probably only as tall as his hips you looked at him like you had a few inched on him! You just looked him in the eyes and said 'yeah, what of it you old geezer, it's certainly a better job of it than you've been doing!' And Avô returned that look ten fold and I was scared that he might beat you up for disrespecting him! But instead he smiled and declared that you were a cheeky little brat, but that he liked you and you could stay."

Ace sighed fondly, a smile settling onto his features before he continued in a more relaxed voice. "You really got to Avô with that. I remember how he stayed for a whole week and came to visit a little bit more often. At least every couple of weeks. He took us out camping, put-putting, go-karting, but mostly camping and fishing. He started sending money for us to buy groceries with so that we'd stop thinking about stealing it all the time… He was a little scary, but it was a lot of fun…" Ace chuckled fondly but began to frown. "I wonder why he stopped? It's probably been five years now…" he frowned.

A thoughtful silence fell between the two of them as Ace looked away, staring out the front window of the shop and at some far off memory before he sighed. "Sabo."

"Hm?" Sabo grunted curiously, prompting him to go with a quirked up eyebrow.

"You really need to talk to your parents." Ace declared, settling a hard gaze back on Sabo.

Sabo scowled, anger broiling in his chest. "Like hell I will! It's all their fault. They were going to kick me out to 'teach me a lesson' so I saved them the effort and saw myself out the door with a pocket full of cash. They cut me off from the rest of their resources immediately. They never searched for me. Never contacted the police. Nothing. They didn't give a shit that they'd just put a ten year old out onto the streets with nothing to his name." Sabo growled.

"You said it yourself all those years ago. They didn't expect you to have been so serious about it. They thought you'd come back as soon as you realized how difficult it was to live without their money." Ace frowned.

"Yeah, well, they misjudged my determination. I didn't give a shit about their money and there was no way in hell that I was taking over the family business. I wasn't going to let them marry me off to some spoiled, prissy little bitch so that their company might benefit from it. I wasn't going to be a pawn living off of my parent's success. Living off of money that they got from lying, cheating, and stepping all over the people beneath them. I didn't want to deal with the fact that I could trust no one around me. How people never talked to me for me, but for my family's influence. It's an empty existence that I want nothing to do with." Sabo spat. He took a deep, shaky breath in an attempt to calm down after his outburst before he continued. "I'm happy, Ace. I'm happy living here with you and Luffy. I'm happy working here in this dusty game shop, selling things that are finally pulling themselves back from the brink of being obsoleteness. I'm happier now that I ever could have been there… I just." Sabo exhaled slowly. "I don't want to talk to them. They have Stelly. They never needed me. There is nothing left to associate them with me anymore, not even my last name. They gave me up, Ace. They let Garp take custody. They _let_ me change my last name. They don't even want me back and I don't want to have anything to do with them. I'm not going to talk to them." Sabo leveled his gaze back on Ace with those final words, conveying his absolute conviction.

Ace pursed his lips, turning away from Sabo's gaze to take a second to collect his thought before responding. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have brought it up again… but I never said that you had to leave us. I want you to stay just as much as you want to stay. It's just… sometimes I think about how lucky you were. Not that you were born into a rich family or any of that shit… but that you _had_ a family—that you actually knew your parents. And how I know that, no matter what you think, they probably loved you and still do to this day. Even if it seemed like they never did, I'd imagine that they, like all other parents, just wanted to make you happy. Even if what they thought would make you happy wasn't exactly spot on. They probably realized what it was you really wanted a long time ago." Ace paused, taking a measured breath and Sabo waited for him to continue, feeling a sliver of him starting to believe what Ace was saying. "Sabo, just… just think about it at least. It's been ten years. I think that, for a long time now, they understand you."

Sabo lowered his gaze without a word, staring at the cover of one of the Munchkin's expansion packs. He could still see Ace's legs in the corner of his vision as he pondered those words. He thought back to what Ace had said all those years ago about his family. How he and Luffy were actually cousins and they had moved to the states from Brazil with their grandfather. Ace's mother had died in childbirth; Luffy's had abandoned him. Both of their fathers were brothers and wanted criminals at the time, both were caught and arrested when the boys were young. They'd never met them once. Garp had returned from America to try and take care of them, but there was only so much that he could do. He enlisted the help of some of his friends in the slums and it was several years before he had gotten all the paper work he needed to move the two boys to the states. Luffy was six then. It was just a year later when Sabo had run into them on the streets and joined them in that big empty house.

His thoughts were interrupted when Ace began to move, stepping away from Sabo with a deep, quiet breath before he began to speak once more. "We're getting Luffy the headset for his birthday. We should go to the store while Luffy's at school tomorrow and pick it up. They let me borrow one of the headsets from the station. I figured that, after we gave it to him, the three of us could all play together at least once. I'll talk to Makino about pitching in to help when I get home, alright?"

Sabo nodded, his gaze still directed at the Munchkin expansion packs, but his attention still focused on the issue with his parents. He felt Ace's eyes on him for a moment before the bell above the front door rang as it open and his brother left.

A familiar sting in his eyes and a lump in his throat began to form and he fought to choke it down. He squeezed his eyes shut and took a deep, shuttering breath before the feeling passed. He rubbed his eyes with the sleeves of his button up and then shook his head.

"You gonna be alright?" Chris asked from the doorway to the break room.

Sabo nodded, clearing his throat. "Yeah. I'm fine." He swallowed, continuing to nod as he tried to remember where he'd left off in organizing the shelves. He was _not_ going to talk to his parents. He couldn't. He wasn't going to back down on this. He wasn't going to attempt to rebuild burnt bridges when they were the ones that burnt them down in the first place.

* * *

That night, when Sabo got home, he found a container of leftovers sitting on the island situated in the middle of the kitchen with a note saying they were for him. Makino must have made dinner for them tonight. Sabo was a little disappointed that he wasn't able to join them for their meal, but at least he still got to taste her cooking.

Sabo popped open the lid of the container, but left it on, before pushing it into the microwave. He closed the door, set the timer, and pushed start before setting about making himself a glass of water. As the timer reached zero, he became aware of the fact that he was no longer alone in the kitchen when the sound of bare feet walking across the tiled floor reached his ears.

"Hey, Sabo" Ace greeted with a yawn, glancing at the clock on the microwave once Sabo had shut it's door again. With the bowl of leftover spaghetti in hand, Sabo took a glance at it himself to find that it was five past midnight.

Sabo turned his attention to the freckled raven head as his brother began to speak "I talked to Makino and Shanks after dinner." Ace began, sitting down on one of the barstools, pulling out a second for Sabo to sit in on his right while the blonde pulled a fork from the silverware drawer.

"And?" Sabo prompted as he hoisted himself into the provided seat, sticking his fork into the large mess of spaghetti with extra meatballs and began to eat.

Ace leaned against Sabo's left shoulder with another yawn. "They were very enthusiastic about it," he mumbled, "They'll definitely pitch in."

"That good." Sabo smiled as he shoved another forkful into his mouth. He felt Ace's weight start to relax further into his side and he frowned "You better not fall asleep on me, I'm trying to eat." Sabo warned around a mouth full of spaghetti.

"Mnotsleep…" Ace mumbled, smacking his lips a little as he shifted slightly so he could get more comfortable on Sabo's shoulder.

"Ace. Go to sleep." Sabo nudged Ace with his elbow, only to get a pouting whine in response. Sabo sighed fondly. "You're such a big baby…" and let his brother be, keeping is left arm still as he spun another forkful of spaghetti and took another bite, Ace snoring softly into his shoulder.

* * *

A/N: And that's a wrap for now.

this is my first foray into writing fanfiction.

With college, i'm shooting for 2 week release schedule in anticipation of the homework hell that is 3D animation.

I don't have a Beta, so I apologize for any mistakes. (If someone is interested in Betaing, let me know.)

Hope you enjoyed! Feedback is always appreciated.

(This chapter was previously split into 2 chapters because i felt like it was too long. But then the rest of my chapters were about that long anyway and i realized it was pointless. So it's back to 1 chapter.)

Next Chapter: Luffy's Birthday!

To be continued...


	2. Ch 2: The Beginning Prt 2

**Chapter Two**

When they left Best Buy, Sabo and Ace left much poorer than when they'd walked in, but they were carrying a gift well worth the money in exchange.

Sabo searched the parking lot as the two of them crossed from the sidewalk to the lot itself. He spotted a big red SUV wondered if it belonged to their eccentric neighbor, but second-guessed himself as he pondered if Shanks would even be back to pick them up yet. Despite that, the door opened and Shanks stepped out, only to catch sight of them and wave wildly. "Hey, boys! I was just about go in and find you!"

"You've already finished getting all the stuff for dinner?" Sabo inquired with a raised eyebrow. They weren't exactly in the electronics store for very long.

"Shotgun!" Ace declared, darting for the far side of the vehicle.

"Damn it." Sabo cursed, momentarily distracted from his conversation with Shanks.

"…next door and picked up some small stuff like candles." Shanks finished as Sabo's attention was drawn back.

"Wait, candles? What did you say before that?"

"I said that I'd decided that I'd wait for you guys to finish up here and just went over to the dollar store to pick up some small party stuff and candles." Shanks repeated.

Ace made a curious sound "Candles? But we're not having cake?" he asked as he opened the passenger side door.

Shanks pulled open the driver side door and slid behind the wheel as Sabo took his place behind him in the backseat, setting Luffy's gift down gently next to him.

"Yeah we might not be having cake but what's a birthday without any candles to make a wish with?" Shanks protested.

"If we're not having cake where exactly do you plan on putting the candles?" Sabo inquired as the vehicle growled to life.

"In his birthday steak of course." Shanks grinned. He glanced at Sabo through the read view mirror "We can poke a few holes into the steak with one of those fancy chopsticks of yours and then fit the candles right in."

"You are not using my chopsticks for something as stupid as that." Sabo denied, glaring holes into the back of Shank's skull with his eyes as Shanks laughed.

"Besides. When's the last time anyone in this car ever blew out candles on their birthday?" Ace scowled.

* * *

In the end, Shanks won the argument and Luffy was to have seventeen candles protruding from his steak (without the aide of Sabo's chopsticks god damn it.) Sabo did manage to work in a compromise, however, and the candles were fitted onto toothpicks with scotch tape. Sabo had wanted to find something to use to catch the melting wax with once they were lit, but Ace doubted that Luffy would care or even taste the difference. Sabo had insisted anyway, but having failed in finding anything to use, he gave up.

"What's the time?" Sabo asked as he and Ace attached the birthday banner to opposite sides of the entrance hallway with copious amounts of scotch tape after it had fallen once before.

"Umm looks like it's four forty-five" Makino called, peaking her head through the wall of streamers in the doorway to the kitchen at the end of the hall.

Ace whistled "That's cutting it kinda close. We gonna make it? He usually gets home at around five I think." He pondered as he stepped down from the chair he was using as a stool.

"Assuming that it's a practice and not a game that he's got tonight." Sabo recalled as he climbed down as well before dragging his chair down the hallway and back into the kitchen, having to kick his way through a sea of balloons and streamers both on the floor and hanging from the ceiling in order to get there. Sabo said that they only needed to blow up a few balloons to hang. Ace had blown them all up anyway.

"There shouldn't be a game. He had one yesterday." Shanks corrected as he set down the try of steaks he'd just finished grilling on the counter.

"He had one yesterday?" Ace asked, voicing the same question that had crossed Sabo's mind.

"Hey, Sabo." Makino called, grabbing his attention away from Shank and Ace's conversation.

"Yes, Makino?"

"While I'm dealing with the corn, could you check on the stove? I started making the mashed potatoes and the water should start boiling soon. Already measured out all the flakes. You just have to stir them in when it's ready." She requested.

"On it." Sabo complied as he scanned the kitchen that had miraculously remained fairy clean during the couple's hurricane of cooking. He plastered himself against the wall to let his neighbor through before he approached the stove built into the kitchen island. He eyed the mixture of butter, water, and salt and vaguely wondered why the milk hadn't been added yet. He caught sight of it measured out in a cup next to the stove. "Uh, Makino? Why haven't you added the milk yet?" Sabo turned, seeing the oven at his back was still on "and do you want me to turn the oven off?"

"Its better if you add the milk in with the flakes." Makino informed him as she stuck shoved the toothpicks of the candles into Luffy's birthday steak. "You can go ahead and turn the oven off and take the rolls out if you think it's time to take them out."

Sabo judged the water on the stove and reckoned he had enough time to get the rolls out of the oven before it started to boil and so he reached out, grabbing the handle of the oven and tugging open the door with a loud creak. He recoiled a moment as a wave of heat washed over him, forcing him to squint for a second before he could focus on the rolls, seeing that they were a nice golden brown. He figured that since Luffy would be home soon, he might as well take them out now. He pulled the hot pads from the oven handle and reached into the oven, grabbing the pan within and pulling it out.

"The water's boiling." Ace offered unhelpfully from the other side of the kitchen island.

"Then you make the mashed potatoes." Sabo shot he as bumped the oven door shut with his hip.

"No thank you, that's your job." Ace returned smugly.

Sabo straightened turned slightly, hot pan in his hands as he narrowed his eyes at his brother, lips drawn inwards with an un-amused glare. The raven head circled around the kitchen island and turned off the stove. "There we go! I did my kitchen work for the day." Ace sighed in satisfaction, brushing his hands off on his shorts like turning the oven off had been some great messy endeavor that had left his hands dirty. At least he slid a third hot pad onto the counter for Sabo to place the hot pan onto while Sabo was still busy glaring at him.

"So, are you working on Friday?" Ace asked as Sabo put down the pan on the hot pad and turned his attention to the mashed potatoes.

"I always work on Fridays." Sabo reminded him.

"You should see if your boss would let you take off work again. Shanks told me that Friday is Luffy's game against Dallas High. Biggest game of the season, you remember how strong Summit City and Dallas' rivalry is." Ace informed him as he held out a fork for Sabo to use to mix the instant mashed potatoes with.

"Friday is our busiest day. I can't just take off work last second like that." Sabo argued. He glanced at his brother to find that Ace's most disappointed and disapproving gaze had settled on him and he quickly looked away again, picking up the bowl of potato flakes.

"You can't be the only employee at that place. Talk to him at work tomorrow and see if your boss can get a hold of someone to take your place." Ace countered as Sabo poured the bowl of flakes into the water.

"I don't know if I can do that." Sabo replied as he picked up the measuring cup full of milk.

"Can or want to? This is Luffy's last game of the season. It's the most important game of the season. I know you're not big into sports, but this is Luffy we're talking about. This is important to him. He's been playing soccer since he could run. He loves it as much as he loves eating and it would mean a lot to him if we showed up. Think about it." Ace challenged as he walked away.

Sabo frowned as he poured the bowl of potato flakes into the water and began stirring as he poured in the milk as well. It was times like this when Sabo wished he had a phone and he moved it higher up on his mental list of priorities. Right underneath bills, food, and college.

As Sabo absent-mindedly stirred the potatoes, he admitted to himself that soccer wasn't exactly his cup of tea. Despite that, however, he did admire Luffy's burning passion for playing the sport. Luffy played on the school team in the spring, the city league in the fall, and then volunteered his time coaching and refereeing for the little kid's league in the summer. He thought back to his high school days and had to admit that, yes, Summit City's rivalry with Dallas was entirely Luffy's doing. Dallas had been undefeated until Luffy came along, after all.

Sabo's train of thought was interrupted as Ace burst back into the kitchen. "Luffy's back! I just saw him pedaling up the street. He's going to be here any second!" He hissed. Sabo looked down at the potatoes, still seeing dry flakes, and then stirred them a little faster.

"Sabo! Your bike's in back like we planned, right?" Ace asked.

"Yes! We moved them before we went to Best Buy." He responded as he stirred the potatoes with even more urgency.

"Shit! Where are the poppers!?" Shanks panicked, running out of the kitchen. "I can't find them! What do we do?"

"They're in the bag on the kitchen counter!" Makino called after him and Shanks came rushing back into the kitchen.

The poppers were on the counter next to Sabo and the rolls, and Shanks snatched them up quickly and ran back out into the hallway.

"C'mon Sabo!" Shanks prompted.

Sabo took one step away from the potatoes and quickly took that step back to give them one last turn then abandoned the fork into the mixture before he dashed out to join Makino, Shanks, and Ace, flipping the light switch in the kitchen off on his way out. He turned the light off in the hallway as well as he passed that switch and plunged the house into pseudo darkness.

Wiggling in between Ace and Shanks, Sabo joined the three of them underneath the birthday banner that hung across the hallway. Ace pressed one of the little poppers into Sabo's hand and Sabo took it, gripping the string in between his thumb and forefinger as they waited.

"Everyone remember the plan?" Shanks whispered.

"It's when the door is opening, right?" Ask asked.

"No, I thought it was when he sees us." Sabo tentatively corrected.

"No, the poppers are supposed to get his attention!" Shanks insisted.

"That's not a timing at all!" Ace hissed.

"Boys!" Makino snapped as the sound of a key sliding into the lock reached their ears.

The door handle turned slowly and then the door swung open, letting the afternoon light spill into the hallway and illuminate the group of people standing there. There was a heartbeat as Luffy entered the house and turned, closing the door behind him while Shank's fingers counted down. Three… two… one… "Surprise!" they all shouted as they tugged on the strings of their party favors, triggering a loud pop accompanied by a pathetic shower of confetti that rained down in Luffy's direction.

Luffy flinched, startled at the sudden barrage of sound that had assaulted him and then stared at them with a dumbfounded expression, his eyes shifting from Makino and Shanks to Sabo and Ace and then his expression melted into one of sheer joy. He dropped his bags and rushed forwards and leapt at Sabo and Ace, wrapping them in a bear hug giggling as he shouted "Surprise!" Sabo felt as though he was being strangled in that hug, but he could hardly care right now as the two of them hugged their little brother right back.

After a few seconds, Luffy released them and then launched himself at Shanks and Makino, wrapping them in a hug of equal measure as he continued to giggle in delight.

"I sure hope your hungry!" Shanks chuckled, his voice slightly strangled as he hugged the boy back just as tightly.

"I'm always hungry!" Luffy beamed, his giggles having yet to cease.

Makino waved Sabo and Ace to the kitchen to help her set the table, Shanks and Luffy's conversation continuing behind them. "So you didn't invite anyone to come for dinner?" Shanks asked.

"Nope." Luffy denied, the sound of him lifting his sports bag reaching his ears.

"Why not?" Shanks asked as Sabo picked up the pot of mashed potatoes.

"There wasn't anyone that I could think that I even wanted to invite… but now I'm glad that I didn't invite anyone at all!" Sabo paused on his way to the dinning table at Luffy's response, shifting his gaze down the hallway to look at his little brother and their neighbor.

Shanks ruffled Luffy's hair affectionately "Is that so?"

"Mmhm! Cuz now I get to spend my birthday with my four favorite people all at once! This is the best birthday ever!" Luffy declared, his grin stretching from ear to ear. It was a contagious smile, and Sabo couldn't stop himself from smiling as well as Shanks patted Luffy on the back and urged him to drop off his stuff really quick so that they could eat.

Sabo was pulled away from his distraction when Makino cleared her throat and Sabo realized that he was standing in the way of her and the stack of steaks on the counter. He quickly excused himself and stepped out of the way and to the table to set the bowl down with the collection of sides already settled in the middle of the table as Ace set down the last plate and Makino approached with the steaks.

The sound of thundering footsteps warned them of Luffy's approach as he shot into the kitchen and dining area, already drooling as he stared at the spread of food on the table.

Sabo approached Luffy and draped an arm over his shoulders "C'mon." Sabo beckoned, guiding him towards the table "We can't eat until you've made your wish." He reminded the teen.

"What wish?" Luffy inquired, scanning the kitchen for a cake. It was then that Makino turned to display the candle-ridden steak carried on the plate in her hands. Luffy stopped, forcing Sabo to stop as well before he was dashing to rest of the way to the table with a gasp. He nearly knocked over his own chair in his mad rush to sit down in it. "Meat cake!? This is AMAZING," Luffy squealed.

Shanks shot Sabo and Ace a smug grin, and Sabo responded by sticking his tongue out and making a face before his gaze settled fondly on Luffy once more, who was practically vibrating in his seat with excitement as Makino placed the steak before Luffy, candles softly illuminating his face.

"Calm down there, champ." Ace laughed as they all gathered around Luffy, who was eyeing his steak like a starved animal. Sabo could see that the boy was about ready to just shove the steak in his mouth, lit candles and all.

"Alright, let's sing!" Makino urged, and so began one of the most terrible cacophonies of glorious sound to ever grace the human ear as they began to sing the Happy Birthday song. It had greater effect when there were more people, but the awfulness of the event was still clear with just the five of them as they each sung the song purposefully in different keys, paces, and varying degrees of wailing. Luffy was happily clapping alone at his own pace, unwilling to be left out of the singing fun. It was Ace, in the end, that they were left waiting for as he took an agonizingly long time to finish singing the last Happy Birthday of the song in whichever octave and key suited his fancy for that syllable. When the final notes of the song were finally drawn out of Ace's—now empty—lungs, Luffy took in a deep breath of his own as he closed his eyes, pausing for a moment as he made his wish. When he finished, he opened them once more and blew out his candles while Sabo and everyone else classed and cheered, wishing him a happy seventeenth birthday once more.

Luffy grinned, "Shishishi thanks, guys! I couldn't be happier," He declared sheepishly. It was another genuine smile, Sabo noted; a smile that lacked any twinges of hidden sadness. It was just Luffy being the good ol' bundle of joy he always used to be.

"Alright! Time to eat!" Shanks declared, the candles removed and the steak already halfway into Luffy's mouth while the rest of them scrambled into their seats around the table. Luffy was sitting at the head of the table, Ace and Sabo on his right, Makino and Shanks on his left.

Sabo locked eyes with Ace and then they both lunged for the mashed potatoes at the same time, struggling to push each other back but Luffy snuck in and took them first, attempting to scoop a large forkful onto his place. "Who thought a fork was a good idea for serving the mashed potatoes?" Luffy complained through his mouthful of steak and the whole table looked at Sabo.

Sabo pointed at Ace. "He's the one that gave me the fork."

"You use a fork to stir the potatoes. Why didn't you get a spoon afterwards?" Ace shot back.

"I didn't exactly have time! Luffy got back right as I was finishing stirring" Sabo defended as he picked up his steak knife.

Luffy ignored Sabo in favor of shoveling even more mashed potatoes onto his plate, having resorted to just picking up the bowl and scrapping heap onto his plate.

"Hey!" Ace scowled, reaching for the bowl as they watched the mashed potatoes pile up "Don't take all of it! There are FIVE people at this table, not just you!" He whined while Sabo cut into his steak.

"I'm the birthday boy!" Luffy defended, pulling the mashed potatoes further out of Ace's reach. "I do what I want!" he declared as Ace took, bending over the dinner table to reach the bowl of potatoes. Sabo had to set down the steak bite on his plate once more as his body shook with suppressed laughter.

"Boys!" Makino scolded, Shanks laughing too hard at their antics to back her up.

"Leave us some mashed potatoes, damn it!" Ace demanded. Sabo couldn't hold it anymore and bust out laughing himself as Ace nearly climbed onto the table itself.

In the end, Ace got the mashed potatoes and the bowl finally made its way around the table for everyone to collect their own helpings. Makino scolded Luffy for foregoing the use of his utensils and demanded that he cut that steak into smaller pieces, but Luffy defiantly declared once more that he was the birthday boy and that he could do what he wanted.

What baffled Makino the most, however, is when Ace dropped his knife and fork and started doing the same, joining Luffy in the devouring of their meals like they were cave men. Sabo was almost offended at the look that Makino gave him. It was very evident that she felt that if one of the two older brothers were going to cave first, it would have been him, not the politely mannered Ace. But then he figured… well, what the hell? Then dropped his utensils onto the table and picked his streak up with both hands, sinking his teeth in and working it a little bit before pulling off a bit and chewing. Luffy whooped triumphantly, snatching up a glass of water and washing down his latest bite.

Sabo stared at his steak thoughtfully as he chewed. Something was missing in the flavor. What was it? Salt? Kinda. Not really. It was… Worcestershire sauce. That's what he needed. Sabo wiped the steak juice off of his hands and stood, retreating to the fridge to grab the sauce and bring it back to the table, giving his steak a light douse before setting the bottle down on the table. Shanks made a quick grab at it second and abandoned his utensils. Makino glared at him with a look of betrayal and Shanks stared back, frozen with his teeth sunk into the steak. Makino narrowed her eyes, a silent threat passing between them, and he slowly released the steak and set it back down, picking up his knife once more and dejectedly cutting into his steak.

Their meal continued from there in earnest, Sabo eventually opting to use his utensils once more when he decided that it was too much work not to. There was little chatting at the table while they ate, defending their plates from Luffy whenever he'd determined that they didn't want something anymore once he'd finished his meal in record time. Having exhausted the table of all food, Luffy sat back, his face covered in a mess of steak juice, and content as a cat basking in the sunlight.

Sabo tried to salvage his hands and face, which were still greasy from the streak, with his paper towel before nonchalantly taking said paper towel and shoving it in Ace's face, grinning as he began to aggressively wipe Ace's face clean. Ace made vain attempts at swatting the laughing Sabo's hands away, but Sabo kept smothering Ace's face with the paper towel until Ace wrenched it out of Sabo's grasp and jerkily cleaned off his own hands and face, directing glares at both Luffy and Sabo as they both laughed. Ace picked up Luffy's unscathed paper towel and threw it at his face. "No present for you until you clean yourself up." Ace ordered.

"You guys got me a present?" Luffy gasped. Sabo had never seen Luffy clean himself up so fast in his life. Sabo glanced down at the table to pick up his dishes only to find that the table had already been cleared by Makino and Shanks and was relieved that, for once, he didn't have to do the dishes.

"Okay! I'm clean! I think it's time for my present!" Luffy declared, jumping out of his chair and tugging at Ace and Sabo's shirts to get them to stand up as well. "C'mon c'mon c'mon." he chanted.

Sabo eventually stood and ruffled Luffy's hair "Wait in the living room, I'll go and get it." Luffy nodded excitedly and then ran for the living room, Ace in tow.

Setting out to retrieve Luffy's present, Sabo ventured up the stairs to his own bedroom on the right side of the hallway. Luffy's gift was sitting on Sabo's bed, neatly wrapped in bacon pattered wrapping paper. He laughed internally at the thought of Luffy wanting to eat the wrapping paper as he stepped passed the present to check on his own Dragon headset. Having confirmed that it was all hooked up and ready to go at a moment's notice, he made his way back down stairs with the bacon paper wrapped box in hand.

Sabo found everyone chatting away in the living room, Luffy with his hands tucked underneath his thighs while his legs bounced up and down with pent up anticipation. The camera in Makino's hands panned from Luffy to Sabo as he entered the room, making to clear to Sabo that she was recording this.

"Sorry for the delay." Sabo announced as he made his way to Luffy's spot on the couch next to Ace. He kneeled down, presenting the gift to his little brother much like a knight offering up his sword to the king. "Here, a present from all of us."

Luffy snatched the box away from him with a grin as Sabo leaned back and pulled his legs out from under him, situating himself on the floor. "Bacon wrapping paper! Where did you even find this!?" Luffy laughed. "This is amazing." He tore his gaze from the gift and down at Sabo at his feet.

"The Think Geek Store out on the west side of Dallas." Sabo proudly announced.

"Of course you found it at a geek store." Ace scoffed.

"Geeks rule the world." Sabo countered, the sound of tearing wrapping paper pulled every ones attention back to Luffy as he pulled at the paper, apparently done reveling in it's brilliance.

There was a moment of hesitation as Luffy caught sight of the celestial logo peaking out of the paper. His gaze danced over everyone present once before he frantically ripped the rest of the paper from the box in his hands to reveal the full design of the box. He turned it so that he could look at it from the proper angle as he took it in. All of their eyes were focused on him as the waited for Luffy's reaction. His eyes were wide as he shifted his gaze upwards once more. He opened his mouth to say something but no words came out. He closed his mouth and then repeated the action twice before he managed to choke out an "Oh. My. God. Is this—" he paused, mouth hanging open as he lifted the box again.

"It is." Sabo confirmed.

Luffy turned the box around so that they could see it. "It's a—" he stopped again. "How. You guys? Is this…?"

"Open it up." Ace prompted.

Luffy turned the box and set it back down in this lap once more, eyes dancing over it once before he gently set it aside, propping it up against the arm of the couch, as if it were the most precious and fragile thing that he had ever touched in his life before he launched himself off of the couch. He slammed into Sabo like a freight train, wrapping his arms around him like he wanted to be Sabo's new sweater and they topped backwards onto the floor. "Thank you." Luffy whispered before detaching himself from Sabo and then launched himself at the second nearest person – Ace, who received the same treatment as Sabo. Luffy continued on to Shanks and Makino before making his way back to the couch and sitting down, a dazed grin on his face.

Sitting up once more, Sabo watched as Luffy pried at the end of the box, encountering tape with an impatient frown. Ace reached into his pocket and pulled out his pocketknife, cutting the tape holding the flaps of the box closed. Luffy pried open the box to reveal the Styrofoam casing inside. Luffy eased the top of the casing out of the box to reveal it's protected contents, Sabo could almost imagine a golden glow emanating from the box to illuminate Luffy's face. The teenager reached into the box and, in another show of surprising delicacy, he lifted the headset from it's casing and held it out in front of him, easing it out of it's plastic bag so that he could hold it in his hands directly.

"Happy birthday, Luffy." Sabo smiled.

"Oh my god, thank you guy so much. I can't even begin…" His jaw worked as he lost all words, leaving his sentence hanging in the air as he looked around at everyone with an expression of awe.

"Do you want to try it now?" Sabo inquired and Luffy nodded so hard and fast, Sabo was afraid that his brother's neck might snap.

"How did you guys… how did you even afford this? I mean, Sabo saved up for years to buy his when it came out. Have you been…" Luffy gaped.

"We all pitched in." Shanks offered. "Even your Grandpa, surprisingly."

"Avô did, too?" Luffy's eyebrows rose in surprise and then he looked back at the device in his hands. He took a breath and then just shook his head at his loss for words. "I don't know what to way other than… Damn. Thanks, guys. I can't even begin to express that. This is amazing. I don't think I could ever properly convey that. This is… this is a dream come true."

"Well, you're old enough to play now, so we figured that there was no better gift that we could ever give you." Ace smiled.

"You're damn right. Gonna have a hard time topping this one." Luffy laughed as pushed the headset back into its place amongst the Styrofoam.

"Before we get out of you boy's hair, it's time for pictures!" Makino insisted as she swapped the digital camera from video to photo and they were all herded over to one side of the living room for pictures. There was a chaotic attempt at about six different photos with the three brothers before Makino finally got them to take at least one serious photo together before moving on to pictures with various combinations of the five people present and Luffy's gift.

"Alright, we're going to get out of here so that you boys can have fun with your new toy, alright?" Shanks announced as Makino flipped through the pictures she had gotten with a fond smile before tucking it away.

Luffy approached them with one more hug for each of them "Thanks for doing this for me, you guys."

"It's nothing, Anchor." Shanks smiled.

"You know we love you live a son. You deserved all of this. It was very nice to have everyone together." Makino hugged Luffy a little tighter before letting him go.

Ace bowed towards them and politely said "Thank you so much for the meal and for helping pay for Luffy's gift."

"No need to thank us." Makino assured him.

"Thanks for setting this all up, It was really nice to see you guys again" Sabo added from him spot on the flood, waving to them as they headed out the living room door.

"You should take more days off, kid." Shanks lectured as he waved back.

"I think I just might." Sabo thoughtfully agreed under his breath.

"'ight. See you boys later!" Shanks called as he meandered out of sight.

"Come by again sometime soon." Makino insisted as she followed after her husband.

Once the sound of the front door closing reached their ears, Sabo stood and glanced at the time on his watch. It was almost six thirty, so the game's servers should be back online by now. "Let's get this show on the road." He declared.

Luffy gathered up the box with the headset in his arms and looked at Sabo questioningly.

"To your room so you can get comfortable. We'll meet you in game and then see you off, yeah?"

Luffy grinned, "Not until we do something awesome together, though! So you're going to dive in after me?"

"Yup! Ace and I both traveled back to our regions starting island so that we can meet you in there." Sabo informed him, looking over his shoulder at Luffy as he made his way out of the living room and down the hallway. Luffy quickly followed with Ace not far behind as they made their way up the stairs.

"Ace is going to be playing, too!?" Luffy gasped, turning to look at his raven-haired brother.

"I borrowed the headset from the station." Ace elaborated. "We use them for training exercises, but they all come with One Piece… I tend to play it in my downtime." Ace admitted.

"Awesome!" Luffy squealed, voice straining as he tried to contain his excitement. "I get to be pirates with both of my brothers!"

"Oh, by the way, Make sure that you pick your starting language as English and not Portuguese." Ace encouraged as they entered Luffy's room at the end of the hallway.

"Why?" Luffy inquired.

"Language also tends to determine your starting island, so no Portuguese when it asks you what your native language is, okay?" Sabo filled in as Luffy sat down on his bed with the box in his arms.

"Got it." Luffy affirmed.

"Do you?" Ace double-checked.

"English. Not Portuguese." Luffy repeated.

Sabo scanned the room for the nearest outlets. "Over there!" Luffy pointed out, gesturing excitedly behind his nightstand. Makes sense. Sabo dropped onto the floor and held his hands out for the box. Luffy handed it over and Sabo set it down next to him as he began to set up the system, plugging wires into the headset and into a small console-like device and then into the wall. Sabo turned on the device and then held the headset above him for Luffy to take back and it was quickly removed from Sabo's possession.

"Alright." Sabo sighed contentedly as he got to his feet. "Now, after you put the headset on and it's booted it up, the headset is going to run some tests and calibrations before it plunges you into the game. It'll be disorienting at first, but I'm sure you can handle it. Once you've done that, you'll be able to create an account and edit your character then you'll be placed into the game where you have the option of skipping the tutorial. It's all simple enough. The game will help you through all the steps. Think you got it?"

"Mmhm! I got it." Luffy insisted, giving Sabo the thumbs up before he slid on the headset, which encased the majority of Luffy's head but left the lower half of his face clear, on. He snapped together the clip under his chin much like a bicycle helmet before Ace helped him lay comfortably down on the bed.

"So what's the activation phrase?" Luffy asked, getting right down to business.

"What do you say at the start of an adventure?" Sabo quizzed.

Luffy grinned "Set Sail!" and the headset hummed to life.

* * *

A/N: And there you have it. Chapter 2.

Also, thank you all for your favorites, reviews, and follows. It means a lot! I hope you all enjoy what i've got in store for you.

Wordlet: I've got it all planned out, so you're just going to have to wait and see ;)

Next Chapter: We're finally in the Virtual World

To be continued...


	3. Ch 3: The Beginning Prt 3

**Chapter Three**

Sabo turned to Ace, a wide grin plastered on his face as he met his brother's gaze. The freckled man met his grin with a similar one as he said, "See? Told you it would be the best thing we could possibly have gotten him." Ace gloated.

"Alright. I'll give you that." Sabo allowed as he raised his hand, meeting Ace's for a high-five, "I just never thought we'd be able to afford it!" Sabo admitted.

"It was worth it." Ace sighed contentedly. "Alright. Let's get a move on before Luffy shows up." Ace declared, turning to leave.

Sabo followed him out, hitting the lights as he closed the door behind him. Ace turned right to enter his own room and Sabo turned to the door on his left to enter his. Sabo stripped off his jeans, neatly folding them, before placing them in their designated drawer. He then removed his watch and placed it on top of the dresser next to his alarm clock where he'd remember to pick it up in the morning before crawling into bed as if he were going to sleep. He picked up the Dragon headset and slipped it over his wavy blonde locks before laying back, squirming for a second to get comfortable before letting out a content sigh and closing his eyes. "Set sail," He commanded and the device began to hum, drowning out the sound of Ace settling in across the hallway.

It was just a couple of seconds before the sound of whirring began to fade, replaced by a nothingness that blanketed Sabo's entire existence as each one of his senses was cut off from the real world. There was a familiar void that surrounded him then, seeming to swirl around his weightless consciousness before his senses returned to him one by one. A gentle breeze ghosting across his skin, a splash of color that took shape as the salty freshness of the air poured into his lungs. His eyes zeroed in on a box that hovered just before him, prompting him for his user name and password. A mere thought inputted the required text and the box vanished, plunging him back into total darkness.

And then he blinked.

A single flutter of his eyelids, and his vision was assaulted with the dazzling color of a world more perfect than the one that he had left. The wonder of it all had long since faded, but it never ceased to blind him with its brilliance (if only for a moment). The waves crashing against the dock, the wind tousling locks of blonde hair not trapped by the top hat that was nestled atop his head, the salty smell of the sea carried in my that wind was stronger now than it had been before. He lifted his hands habitually, staring at his gloved palms as he curled and uncurled his fingers. Being engrossed in this little habit of his was exactly the reason why he was blindsided by the fist slamming into his skull with an angry "SA-A-BO-O!" as he was sent flailing over the edge of the dock and careening towards the water below.

Hitting the water was a shock to his system, everything going muffled in a single instant. Ocean on all sides making it hard to discern the different between up and down. The burning in his lungs told him he'd forgotten to take a breath before he went under and he took a second to calm himself, staying still as his body's compass righted itself. He spotted the light from the sun shining overhead and swam for it, breaking through the surface with a loud gasp for air.

"That's what you get for ignoring my message!" A voice screeched down at him.

Koala.

"Flash! What are you doing here?" Sabo asked as he looked around for his top hat, spying it floating a short distance to his left. He scooped it up and fit the brim between his teeth as he swam back towards the tall stone dock.

Koala's face peered over the edge "I could ask you the same thing, Dragon-boy!" She scowled down at him, tossing down the end of a rope for him to scale the wall with.

Sabo huffed around the black material between his teeth before he lifted a hand to grip the rope, tugging to make sure that it was secure and then began his climb. When he neared the edge, Koala reached down, taking his top hat from him and setting it aside before helping him over the edge and leaving him to crawl the rest of the way onto solid ground. Sabo flopping onto his back, legs dangling over the ledge with arms stretched out in either direction as he stared up at the sky, taking a few deep breaths to steady his breathing.

"So, anyway." Koala began, leaning forwards slightly to enter back into his vision. "I sent you a message yesterday asking if that Crocodile guy looked familiar to you, too." She began as she straightened once more.

"Ah, yeah. I was thinking about that when I saw the pictures." Sabo agreed as Koala took a seat next to him, placing his top hat next to his head before she began to roll up the rope she had tied to one of the boat tethers.

"And since you were being so _helpful_ " Koala paused to smack his face with the back of her hand "about it, I decided to do _your_ job _for_ you and did some researching on my own. Turns out there's this guy that worked at Celestial named John Swasey. And that's worked. Past tense. He retired a few months ago."

At the name Jon Swasey, everything clicked into place immediately for Sabo. He mentally slapped himself for not making the connection sooner as Koala turned her gaze from the sea and back to him, the rope in her hands breaking into pixels as it returned to her inventory. "It was in the news," She recalled. "That's why he was so familiar. He used to be one of the lead programmers at the head office, one of the key players that make everything that we see here exist, y'know?" Sabo nodded. "And remember what you said when you first saw the news?"

"That he's a bit too young to be retiring." Sabo recalled after a second's pause.

"Right." Koala confirmed.

"So does this mean that Crocodile is a human player?" he wondered, thinking back to the events at Nanohana.

"I don't think that he is. I really do believe that Crocodile's an AI. I ended up doing a little bit more digging instead of studying for my finals and read that Celestial was planning on doing something big for him. Y'know, to celebrate his contributions or some crap… I think that this event might be it." Koala suggested.

"Celebrating his contributions by making him the enemy of one of the first solid quest lines in One Piece for everyone to beat the shit out of?" Sabo questioned, raising an eyebrow. "That's an odd way to celebrate someone's contributions to the company."

"Didn't know that your girlfriend was going to be here, too." A new voice intruded.

"She's not my girlfriend." "He's not by boyfriend." Sabo and Koala denied at the same moment. Sabo ignored the familiar crawl down his spine that always came when someone suggested him and Koala were dating. Him dating Koala was like he was dating his older sister or something and that was kinda weird.

"Right, right. Whatever." The new voice dismissed as Sabo craned his neck backwards in order to see their visitor from his place on the ground. His eyes landed first on the orange cowboy hat and zeroing in on the large red beads and the two blue pendants featuring a sinister smile and a devastated frown. It was Ace, Sabo would recognize that hat anywhere. His voice was a little different, though. Probably why he didn't recognize him from his voice alone. It was deeper than it was in the real world Sabo noted.

Sabo climbed to his feet, offering a hand to Koala to help her up without looking. "Can't believe that you found someone to make that hat he got you when we were still in middle school" he grinned, gesturing to the hat with his free hand.

"I missed it, okay?" Ace laughed, picking the orange hat off his head and holding it out in front of him, gazing nostalgically at the pendants. "As soon as I found out that people here could craft custom stuff like this you bet I had it commissioned in a heart beat. People know me by this hat now." Ace admitted as he placed the cowboy hat back on his head.

Sabo took the time to absorb the rest of Ace's appearance as Koala fitted Sabo's own top hat back atop his head. Ace's black hair was a bit wilder here, and the freckles that smattered his face were now reduced to a few handfuls of light freckles on his cheeks. Sabo was somewhat surprised that Ace was even bothering to wear a shirt (granted, it an open yellow button up, but Sabo had assumed Ace would have abandoned shirts now that he wasn't obligated by society to wear one.)

Ace lifted a hand and made a habitual swiping motion that brought up a holographic window with a soft familiar chime. He scanned through the menu options while he spoke, "Still can't believe this is the first time we've ever met in game," Ace chuckled. Ace swiped his hand to the side and an introduction window appeared before both Sabo and Koala.

Koala looked startled "Second division commander of the Whitebeard Pirates?!" She gasped. "Your brother is BrazillianRage?! Why didn't you tell me this sooner!?" she hissed, smacking Sabo's arm with the back of her hand and accepting the friend request that was at the bottom of her window.

"I didn't know that he was BrazillianRage either." Sabo hissed back as he did the same, nearly drowned out by Ace's boisterous laughter.

"Please. My friends call me Rage." Ace insisted.

Sabo narrowed his eyes as Ace glanced down at the window that popped up with the accepted friend requests. As soon as Ace's eyes landed on Sabo's username, he erupted into even more fits of laughter. He tried to form a coherent sentence, but was failing miserably. "dra—haha. You—pffffhahaha. I can't beHAHAHA. I should… I should'a known! Hahaha!"

Sabo tried to force down the blush forming on his cheeks, but the game's tendency to exaggerate emotions betrayed him. Koala patted his shoulder, but the smirk on her face made it clear that it wasn't meant to be comforting at all. And he got that. It was totally sarcastic and almost condescending. "It's okay, dragon-boy." She snickered. Sabo shrank slightly as if he could hide behind the collar of his black coat and the cravat at his neck while Ace drew all surrounding attention to them with his laughter.

Ace finally managed to calm himself down enough to look Sabo in the eyes with nothing more than a snicker and said "dragonlord23. What's the 23 for?"

"dragonlord, Dragon underscore lord, Dragon dash lord, capital dragon lord, and all other variations were already taken." Sabo explained in a small voice "and dragonlord23 was at the top of the recommended usernames list."

Ace snorted and rubbed the underside of his nose, obviously straining not to laugh again. "So dragon-boy, why am I not surprised that you look like you just walked out of one of those history nerd festivals that you like to go?"

"They're Re-enactments." Sabo corrected quietly.

Ace looked thoughtful for a moment "As stupid as your username is, I remember it now that I'm thinking about it." Ace admitted. "I feel like I've seen it somewhere recently."

"The News Coo?" Koala suggested.

"Yeah, that. But not that. Somewhere else, too. I think it was in the rankings?" Ace pondered. He reopened the menu and sifted through the options, "If I remember right, you were pretty high up."

"Am I? I never look." Sabo shrugged.

Ace suddenly scowled, his finger hovering over the rankings tab in the menu, he pulled his finger back, pressing it against his lips "Yeah. I checked like two days ago." The menu disappeared as Ace pointed an accusing finger Sabo's way "You're, like, two ranks higher than me on the leaderboards!" he recalled, a look of surprised anger taking over his features as his gaze locked onto the blonde.

"So it seems I am." Sabo smirked, standing a little straighter.

"You little shit!" Ace snapped, launching himself at Sabo, fire licking off of his shoulders. "How are you stronger than me!? You work at a comic book store!" He hissed.

"We're in-game!"

The two toppled to the ground in a tangle of limbs and angry shouting. The shouting was mostly coming from Ace as the raven demanded answers for this atrocity against him.

"You have Asthma!" the fire user insisted.

"This is a _game_!" Sabo reminded him.

"I can bench press your scrawny ass!" Ace pointed out as he reached through their tangle of limbs to grab at Sabo's throat.

"Sa'Game!" Sabo croaked as he pried Ace's hands away from his neck.

"I don't _care_! It's not right!" Ace struggled, trying to wrench his wrists out of Sabo's grasp.

Two hands snaked in between them, grabbing their faces I order to force the two of them apart. "Don't make me throw you both into the water." Koala warned them harshly, tugging on their cheeks. "If you keep fighting, the marines are going to show up! This is a protected area, remember!?"

"owowowowowow." Ace hissed "That's Haki. Ouch no nonono."

Koala tugged harder.

"And what are you guys doing all the way out here in East Blue, anyway? This is the Goa Kingdom." Koala asked, finally releasing the two brothers. "Wait. This is where you started, isn't it?" Koala asked Sabo. "I think I remember you mentioning it once."

Sabo attempted to rub feeling back into his cheek with a pout, "Yeah, this is where Ace and I both started. We got our little brother a Dragon headset for his birthday today. We agreed to meet him here for the start of his journey, so we're waiting for him."

Ace massaged his own cheek as he swore, "Forgot how much haki hurts. Jesus. But yeah, what Sabo said. The little bro is finally old enough to join the party."

"Oh yeah, another thing we were supposed to talk about." Koala remembered, looking to Sabo "Alabasta. We game or not?"

"I think it's worth a go." Sabo agreed. "It's gonna have to be more than just the two of us though. I don't think Hack would fair well in the desert."

"My party could join." Ace offered.

"And who all does that entail?" Sabo asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Usually it's Me, Fennec205, Flintlock, and 5k. Others come and go, and of course there's our divisions, but we're more of an umbrella then a collective."

"Wait. So you are in a party with the first division commander and the sixteenth division commander?" Koala stated for clarification.

"And the fourth." Ace added.

Sabo dug through his memory for the names of all of the commanders from one of the old articles he read about the top crews in the game in an attempt to dig up the name of the fourth division commander. "Oh, so you mean Pra—"

"5k and don't you dare say his name out loud to me, he is _not_ the prank master." Ace snapped, cutting Sabo before he could get the username out.

"That's a lot of powerhouses. Think the six of us could take the event ourselves?" Koala wondered.

Ace and Sabo both opened their mouths to answer, but were drowned out by a cry of "Are you guys talking about the Alabasta event!? I wanna try it, too!" as a hard body slammed into the two of them, arms snaking around their torsos and pulling them into a hug.

Sabo stared at the offending arm and realized snaked was indeed the correct verb for what was happening. Arms should not be that long or flexible. He turned his dazed eyes to see the grinning face of his little brother as they were bounced and jostled around in his joy.

"Ack! Luffy! Stop! What are you doing!?" Ace demanded, voice broken up as his body was jerked around.

"Can we go on an adventure!? Let's do it now! Oh my god, this is so _cool_! Have you _seen_ this place!? There's so many colors and" Luffy took a deep breath "and you can _smell_ the ocean! Like, holy crap! I want to get a ship and get a crew and sail around and I want to do it all right now! This is so Exciting! Everything looks so perfect! Everything is all smooth and the sky is so clear and blue! Everyone looks so cool! And PIRATES. And SHIPS. And PIRATE SHIPS. AND OH MY GOD THIS IS A DREAM COME TRUE."

Sabo tugged at the arm wrapped three times around his waist as he attempted to extract himself from the increasingly constricting grasp as Ace gritted his teeth "Luffy! Yes, It's great! But can you _please_ let go."

Luffy stopped bouncing for a moment to look at his arms, blinking once. Twice. Three times before screaming in horror "WHAT IS WRONG WITH MY ARMS. WHAT IS HAPPENING. MAKE IT STOP." He tugged on his arms and they only continued to stretch and he began to panic even harder "it's like I'm made of rubber or something! I'm all stretchy! Do you stretch!? What is happening? Is this normal!? SHOULD I BE STRETCHING!?"

"Luffyluffyluffy shhhhshshshsh calm down." Sabo begged, but Luffy only continued to ramble on in terror. "Luffy. Luffy. Listen. Calm. Down."

Luffy shut his mouth and then took five deep, measured breaths in order to calm down.

"Listen, okay?" Sabo restated. Luffy nodded slowly, a little bit of pressure tapped Sabo's side as Luffy's brain put together where his fingers were and then he finally let go, his arms snapping back to normal. Luffy stumbled slightly and stared at his hands, flexing his fingers.

"Are you okay now?" Sabo asked as Ace tried to rub some feeling back into his arms.

"Yeah. Yeah, I'm okay now. Tell me what's happening." Luffy replied, cutting right to the point.

"Did you eat a disgusting fruit?" Ace asked.

"They have those starter pack that the new players get, yeah? And in mine there was some fruit and I thought 'hey, I wonder if I can taste things in here' so I ate it and it was totally gross and unexpected but I ate the whole thing anyway." Luffy confirmed, sticking his tongue out in disgust at the memory "is all food that disgusting here?"

Ace sighed "No, food here is actually pretty fucking delicious if you find a good cook."

"So was the tree that made the fruit that I ate a bad cook?" Luffy pondered. "Can tree's cook here? I donno. This is a game. Maybe they can cook."

Sabo shook his head "before you get ahead of yourself, No. You ate a devil fruit. It's a super rare item that grants you an ability."

"Yours apparently made you rubber. You're a rubber man now and I can't think of anything more useless than that." Ace smirked. "Guess you can't be lucky all the time."

"Still. He's a lucky bastard." Koala marveled. Sabo snapped gaze towards her, having nearly forgotten that she was even there after the whirlwind that is Luffy had appeared. "It's incredibly rare to get a devil fruit in the starter pack. Like, a one in a thousand chance and not in the one every thousand players kind of chance. Every player has a one in thousand chance of getting something like that. And he just ate his without even knowing what it was. Normally to get a devil fruit you have to practically empty your bank account, real and/or in-game, in order to buy one, be lucky enough to find one amongst the hidden treasures you can find across the game world, or be fortunate enough for one to drop from a boss battle. He'll be lucky if he doesn't lose it in the first few days of game play. The bounty hunters and all of the jealous players are going to be all _over_ him." Koala explained.

"What!?" Luffy gasped. "Can I undo it and just eat it later?" Luffy asked, reaching up with his hand, obviously about to gag himself. "I just started! I don't want to die so soon!"

Sabo grabbed Luffy's wrist to stop him. "No, it's too late for that. So if you're worried about it you're going to have to hide your abilities for a while. Stronger players will be trying to take you out to get your devil fruit. If you're a devil fruit user and your health drops to zero, on top of having a major set back in your stats, you lose your devil fruit and all of the skills and training you did along with it and you'll probably never get another one. No one is that lucky."

"But I don't want to hide." Luffy pouted "How am I going to practice with it if I can't use it? If I've got it then I might as well use it and I might as well get good at using it so that I can beat all of these stronger players so that I don't lose it." Luffy reasoned. "Fake it till I make it, right? Pretend that I'm strong until I am strong."

"He's got a point." Ace allowed as he reached back and grabbed his cowboy hat, which had been knocked off during the whirlwind, and placed it back atop his head.

Luffy eyed the hat and then beamed, his smile taking up nearly half of his face thanks to his new rubber properties "You're wearing the hat I got you when we were little! How'd you even get one!?"

"This?" Ace asked, pulling on the brim slightly "I had it commissioned and I bought it."

Luffy's eyes widened with glee "Then does that mean I can get a straw hat just like mine!? Then I need to get a straw hat. Like. Right now. I have enough money for that, right? Can we go and buy one. I'm not taking no for an answer. So the answer is yes, we can buy one. Where can I buy a straw hat exactly like the one I have back home?"

"You can buy a straw hat later, we still need to talk about some things first." Sabo insisted.

"Nope! Hat first. Talk later. Hat is more important." Luffy denied.

Ace turned met Sabo's gaze, both of them coming to the same conclusion. Luffy was getting his hat first whether they wanted to or not.

* * *

Luffy snatched the hat out of Sabo's hands the instant that the exchange was made with the vendor. "Thank you guys for buying this for me." He smiled gratefully, fitting the straw hat snugly atop his wild hair. "And the clothes, too." Luffy added looking down that the red vest, jean shorts, and sandals that he was wearing now instead of the drab looking standard baggy white shirt and brown trousers the game put him in when he started. They'd stopped to get the clothes while the hat maker was getting supplies for their request.

"It's no biggy." Koala insisted.

Luffy grinned from ear to ear and Sabo knew it was going to be awhile before he could, if he ever, get used to it. Luffy's devil fruit certainly gave his little brother's body some unique properties.

Luffy patted the top of his red-banded straw hat and sighed happily "That's much better. It didn't feel right being in a pirate game without my straw hat, shishishi. Besides, my username wouldn't have made any sense without it!" Luffy giggled, pulling the sides of his hat down far enough that it practically covered his ears.

"Let me guess. It's Straw Hat Luffy with underscores." Ace speculated with a smirk.

Luffy released the brim of his hat and gaped at Ace, his jaw quite literally dropping nearly to the ground as he gasped "How did you know!?"

Ace laughed "Lucky guess?"

Sabo rolled his eyes and looked to Koala who was looking on in mild amusement.

"Wow! Ace is so cool! It's like he's psychic!" Luffy praised, his eyes shining with wonder.

"I do my best." Ace bragged, soaking in his little brother's praise, but Luffy had already turned his attention elsewhere and Sabo had to stifle a laugh as he watched Ace visibly deflate. A small snort made it past his defenses, however, and Ace glared at Sabo.

"Man. That smells delicious!" Luffy sighed after inhaling deeply. "I could really use something tasty after that disgusting fruit I ate."

"But we still need to talk about your devil fruit." Sabo reminded him.

"But that's boooooring." Luffy pouted.

"You don't really even need any food here." Koala pointed out. "This is the virtual world and eating does nothing for you but provide you with a greater sense of immersion."

Luffy and Ace both snapped their gazes towards her, faces plastered in abject horror "You…" they seemed to both be at a loss for what to say as they turned to look at him instead.

"She believes this and you _still_ keep her around." Ace gasped.

"You _traitor_!" Luffy added, voice heavy with disbelief.

Koala snorted, caught off guard by her own sudden laughter, and then tried to suppress the laughter that followed her outburst as he looked to Sabo "They're just like you! Why am I not surprised it runs in the family!" she giggled before breaking down into laughter, lightly smacking the back of her hand against Sabo's shoulder as she tried to collect herself. "Well, then, how much money do we have? I think we can afford an introductory meal for Luffy, here. Then again, feast might be an overstatement. If you two eat as much as Dragon-boy here does then it'll probably just be an ordinary meal to you guys."

* * *

Sabo inhaled a bowl of ramen as Ace explained to Luffy the different kinds of devil fruits and their unique properties and other miscellaneous information. Luffy, of course, was only half listening as he slurped at his own ramen bowl.

"Did you get all of that?" Ace asked, bracing himself for the inevitable.

"Mmhm! Yup! Got it. Fire. Firemen. Purses. Myths. Mystery Fruit." Luffy replied as he finished the bowl before him and picked up the next one. "Got it." He paused for a second before taking the first bite of his new bowl and laughed "That's funny. Ace is a fire man here _and_ back home but here he sets fires and at home he puts them out shishishi."

Ace sighed in defeat and Sabo heard him mumble under his breath "of course that's the only thing he picked up from that entire conversation."

"And you have a friend whose fruit lets him turn into a phoenix?" Luffy suddenly blurted between bites. "That's totally awesome. I want to meet him some day. What was his name again? Finn? Is he from Adventure Time?" He rambled, scooped up some more noodles into his mouth and slurping them up.

Ace and Sabo were both surprised that apparently Luffy _had_ been paying attention after all. Ace shook his head to clear it "Ah. No. It's Fen with an e." Then he snorted, no doubt picturing the first division commander as Finn from that old cartoon.

"So since I have one of those purses devil fruits. How do I use it in fights?" Luffy asked, looking between the two brothers. Koala having gotten sometime during Ace's explanation to Luffy to go and get supplies for Sabo's ship.

Sabo shrugged as Ace took a long drought of his beer to wash down the food he'd just inhaled. "It's called a paramecia" Sabo corrected Luffy. "And I don't have a devil fruit so I don't know the nuances of it, but I do know that in order to use a skill you have to say it's name out loud in order to activate it."

Ace nodded "Yeah, you have to announce your attacks before you use them like the characters always do in those shonen animes you watch. It's dumb, but it's one of the many things that they use to try and balance the playing field between them and us."

"So how do I know what my skills are?" Luffy wondered.

"Open up your menu and go down to the skills tab." Ace informed him around the lip of his mug before taking another drink. Sabo set aside his now empty bowl of ramen and pulled another one towards him and dug in, quietly watching his brothers.

Luffy slurped on some more noodles as he raised his left hand, swiping down hesitantly in a way that had long since become muscle memory to Sabo. He often caught himself doing that in real life whenever he needed something. It was always awkward when someone saw him do it and the holographic menu that had appeared before Luffy hadn't appeared before Sabo in real life.

As Luffy navigated the menu to the skills menus, bringing up a list of sub categories. Sabo knew from memory that these options were armed and unarmed combat, active and passive skills, non-combat skills, and then an extra listing was on Luffy's list that Sabo assumed was for Devil Fruit users. He was proven right when Luffy tapped the last option, mumbling "gum gum fruit" to himself. The rubber man stared at the mostly blank screen with an equally blank expression. "There's nothing here. It's just a bunch of blank spaces and then one icon." Luffy tapped it and a description popped up. "Okay so one skill called Rubber Body. Says it makes me impervious to blunt attacks and physical force and gives the body stretchy rubber-like properties." Luffy glanced up at Ace, eyes seeking answers.

"Correct. You make up your own skills. Devil fruits are only limited by the user's creativity." Ace admitted.

"Then why did you just make me go through all of that trouble!?" Luffy demanded.

Ace put his hands up in a peaceful gesture "Hey, now you know you can't get shot." Ace defended. "Besides. Now you know where to look when you make new skills. It's good to keep tabs on them all. Once you make-up a skill and the system records it, the system will also start to keep track of usage and increase the effectiveness of that skill accordingly."

"So the more I use a skill, the stronger it gets." Luffy summarized.

"Or, perhaps in your case, how far you can stretch, as well." Sabo offered around a mouthful of ramen.

Luffy wiggled in his chair a little bit "I can't wait to try it out!" he squealed "I have so many ideas already! But food first." He prioritized. "Food always comes first. Food and then we can try out my gum gum fruit. And then we can do something cool and then I'm gonna get my own ship and find my own crew and sail around and have tons of adventures! shishishi. It's gonna be so much fun!"

"So you're not going to stick with us for the Alabasta event?" Ace pouted, almost looking a little desperate.

Luffy shook his head "Nope. 'Sides. I'd be missing out on so many adventures by cutting straight to Alabasta from here, wouldn't I? And I just started playing, too! So, nuh uh. No way. And you're both probably captains of your own crews already and I want to have my own crew. As cool as it sounds and as much as I'd like to go with you… I have things that I want to do first," he insisted, "but maybe next event… or the one after that, but definitely bunches after that one." He allowed.

"Actually. I'm not a captain. I used to be, but now I'm one of the sixteen division commanders in the Whitebeard's Pirate fleet." Ace corrected.

"And Koala and I aren't officially part of any crews. Like, there's the two of us and sometimes Hack and then a bunch of NPC crewmates to man the ship. But we are affiliated with the News Coo, the Summit City Pirates, the Sun Pirates, and we tend to help out newer players and lend some extra hands where needed. Otherwise, we're not officially pirates." Sabo likewise corrected.

Luffy's eyes lit up with excitement "Does that mean that you can join my crew!?" he gasped. "I could use some extra hands!"

Sabo mauled that over in thought. "I'd have to talk to Koala about that but I donno. She prefers our solo gig. But I'll talk to her. You sure you'd want me around? I feel like it'd be too easy for you having a veteran player tagging along with you."

Luffy frowned "Yeah… that's true." He allowed. "Maybe until I get my first crewmate then?" He begged, bringing out everyone's greatest weakness: the puppy dog eyes.

"But I have to go to Alabasta for the event as soon as possible and you said you didn't want to go yet." Sabo reminded him, feeling terrible for trying to resist the eyes.

"That's true…" Luffy allowed. "And by the time I get to Alabasta for the event, I'll probably have some crewmates… well then, we'll just have to wait to sail again two events from Alabasta." He concluded.

"The one after the next? But that's, like, two months away." Ace protested. "Why not next event?"

"Because by the third event, I'll be strong enough to take you both on and then kick your asses! Just you wait! " Luffy grinned "I wont be so far behind for much longer. I want to be one a more level playing field when I team up with you guys, okay?" he explained. "I don't want to drag you all down."

Sabo smiled fondly at that and Ace relented, saying "I guess I can live with that. But that's a promise, got it? The third special event, no matter what it is, we're teaming up."

"Right!" Luffy agreed.

"May the grind be quick and painless," Sabo toasted, lifting his glass "But who am I kidding?" he added "It'll be slow, it'll be painful, but at least it'll be exciting." He laughed as he took a drink.

"Here here!" Ace laughed, bottoming out his drink as Luffy gulped at his own and then inhaled the rest of the food that was left on the table.

"Oi!" Ace and Sabo both exclaimed.

"Come on! Hurry up! Let's go! Time's a ticking!"

* * *

A/N: A few things I should say to those who have read this far: without spoiling too much for the story as a whole, just gonna say that some characters are going to have names that differ from Canon. In this chapter I mentioned a John Swasey, who is the American English voice actor for Crocodile. Every time an instance like this shows up, just know that this is where i'm coming up with the names. English voice actors.

Once again, Thank you all for your time! Your Favorites, follows, and reviews all mean a lot to me. Feedback is always appreciated!

Also! Chapter 4 might be delayed. I've been trying to shoot for a chapter every two weeks, but with midterms happening right now it might prove to be a little bit too difficult to push out chapter 4 in two weeks. I'll try not to take more than three weeks, though. Just a heads up.

Wordlet: This story is definitely going to be diverging from canon as seen in this chapter xD And Thanks! This may be my first fic, but I've been writing my own stories since I could hold a pencil! One of my friends begged be to write a One Piece fanfiction, so I stewed on a plot for about 6 months before I started writing what you see here now.

Next Chapter: More Shenanigans

To Be Continued...


	4. Ch 4: The Beginning Prt 4

A/N: First things first, sorry about the not update from a few weeks ago! I was combining the first two chapters of the fic back into one chapter. My first chapter was nearly 8k words long so i split it, but then realized that that actually hurt the chapter later on and the fact that every chapter after that was around 6k+ it seemed like, it was rather pointless to split the chapter to begin with. So they are back to being a single chapter. Which makes this the new Chapter 4!

Also going to apologize for the delay in chapter but, like I said, it was mid-terms. I had a little bit of writer's block when I got back to it over my spring break, but i successfully worked passed it when i worked out what wasn't working in the chapter and fixed it. AKA i tore apart the entire chapter, re-ordered it, scrapped most of it, and then rewrote the entire thing twice. Writer's block successfully torn down.

So without further ado:

* * *

 **Chapter Four**

"Oh! Hey, guys. Good timing. I just finished stocking up on supplies for the ship and was about to come back and see if you had finally finished inhaling your meals." Koala called out as she joined them at the front entrance of the ramen shop they'd just emerged from. "I don't know what you guys are planning on doing yet, but I've got to head back to the ship now and log out. It's almost eight o'clock and I have a final to take tomorrow at noon. I've got to get in some last minute studying before I go to bed because _someone_ wouldn't do their job and I had to do it for them."

"Okay, okay. I'm sorry." Sabo sighed.

"I'd believe that if you didn't ignore my messages so often." Koala scowled.

"Don't worry. It's not just you. He even hangs up on people mid-sentence." Ace glared.

"… Right, so I'll see you…?" Sabo interrupted then trailed off, leaving the question open ended for her to fill in the blank herself.

"Probably not till Saturday if you get on at a reasonable time. When should we tackle the Alabasta event?" Koala asked.

"Sunday?" Sabo offered, the shop was always closed on Sundays.

"I'm not working on Sunday" Ace offered "But I do have a 24 hour shift the day before, so I might not be able to get on till the afternoon. That is unless Sabo wakes me up early and I punch him for it. Fen always gets on on Sundays. 5k and Flint, too. They're usually on in the afternoon, but I'll message them all tonight to make sure."

"Sunday afternoon works for me." Koala agreed. "Hey, Luffy, it was really nice to mee—where'd he go?" Koala interrupted herself, staring at the spot where Luffy was once standing. Sabo turned to look as well and then scanned the area only to find that their little brother was long gone.

Sabo blinked once and then turned to meet Ace's equally concerned gaze before they both turned to look at Koala "Uh…"

There was a loud crash, followed by yelling, and seasoned with a very signature giggle that everyone present knew exactly on whom to place.

"Get back here!"

"Shishishi, sorry!"

"No you're not!"

"Luffy!" Ace and Sabo shouted simultaneously.

"Oh! Hey guys! There you are!" Luffy yelled, jumping mid run and waving his arms up and down as he sprinted towards them. Sabo looked past Luffy and to the group of marines and angry players that were sprinting after him.

"What the hell did you do!?" Ace yelled frantically.

"We can't take our eyes off you for five seconds!" Sabo nearly squeaked.

Luffy's response was to simply laugh even louder before grabbing both Sabo and Ace by the collars as he ran through their group and dragged them along with him. It took a few moments for them to get their feet underneath them once more before they were running as well.

"Answer my question!" Ace demanded.

"I might have broken something." Luffy mumbles sheepishly, lips pulled to the side as he avoided giving a straight answer.

"We might as well all head to the ship them." Sabo resigned. "Looks like we're setting sail a little early! Follow me." Sabo ordered, tugging on Luffy's vest and changing their course.

"Halt! Dragonlord23 and BrazillianRage! You are both under arrest as accomplices of the straw-hatted boy!"

"Aw! They don't know who I am?" Luffy pouted. He jumped into a turn and began to sprint backwards with his fists up in the air "I'm Straw_Hat_Luffy! Nice to meet you! Now make sure you remember it, okay!? I'm going to find the One Piece and be King of the Pirates one day, got that!?" Luffy declared.

"King of the Pirates?" Ace echoed, confused at the title.

"You can be King of the pirates? Since when? How the hell is that possible?" Sabo asked, equally as confused. "More importantly, though. Where did Koala go? I thought she was right behind us."

"Guys! Up here!" a voice yelled down from above. A rope dropped down in front of Sabo and the blonde immediately jumped, grabbing onto the rope and hoisting himself up the side of the tall stone building. Koala pulled the rope up as he pulled the rope's end up behind him in order to speed up the process and prevent anyone from climbing up after him. He heard gunshots and quickly scrambled the last few feet and over the edge of the building.

"Gum Gum…" Two hands grabbed the edge of the roof "Rocket!" and Luffy shot over the side of the building and high up into the air, laughing wildly "This is so much fun! It's like I'm flying!" He exclaimed as Ace appeared over the edge of the roof on a pillar of fire to join them.

"C'mon! Ship's this way!" Koala called, beckoning them on with a hand. She was already sprinting across the tall rooftops of the Goa Kingdom and heading straight for the docks.

Sabo dashed, leaping the distance between the buildings as he followed her close behind. Ace matched his pace perfectly.

"Where's the ship?" Luffy shouted his question from behind them.

Koala pointed towards one of the many ships in the harbor.

"Let me guess. It's the one with the dragon skull on its sail." Ace stated, smugness just oozing from his voice.

"Yes…" Sabo muttered. Was he that obvious? He wasn't _that_ obsessed with dragons... was he?

"Gum Gum…" something grazed Sabo's side and reflexively looked down to see what it was, only to find that Luffy's arm was shooting past him and his hands were latching onto the edge of one of the buildings far ahead of them and across the street.

"Oh no." Sabo groaned.

"What—" Ace began, stopping as he saw the arm on his side as well. He looked to Sabo with a face of dread that Sabo was sure was mirrored on his own.

"Rocket!" Luffy shouted, slamming into both Sabo and Ace. Their feet were ripped from the ground and Sabo was certain that this was how it was going to end. This was how he was going to die. Pathetically. And screaming like a little girl.

"Koala!" Luffy shouted to get her attention, as if Sabo and Ace's own panicked screaming wasn't enough to have already gotten her attention.

Koala only had a chance to make a half turn before the three brothers slammed into her and all three of them were launched towards the harbor.

"Notthewater!Notthewater!Notthewater!" Ace babbled almost incoherently as their tangle of limbs flew past Luffy's hands and they were all catapulted through the air by Luffy's momentum, fast approaching the docks.

Luffy's joyous laughter overshadowed their screams of terror as they all began to tumble out of the sky. Sabo failed his arms in an attempt to right himself and gauge where on the stone dock he might splatter against the ground. He might not die in real life, but it was not a fan of the major set back in his skills and stats dying in the game would do to him.

An arm snacked its way around Sabo's waist and he momentarily panicked as he was yanked back towards Luffy alongside Koala.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?" Sabo demanded to know as Luffy twisted in the air so that he was beneath him.

"Relax!" and more giggling were the only responses he got before Luffy inhaled sharply. Oh god, what now? "Gum Gum… Balloon!" Luffy entire body instantly inflated beneath them as Luffy's arm unwrapped from around Sabo's waist and they hit the ground. The impact was still somewhat jarring as Luffy's body squished beneath him and then he was thrown, flailing, back into the air by the rebound, a slew of _This is a protected area, your surroundings cannot be destroyed_ warnings flashing around them. The stone beneath him gave way to ocean and Sabo barely had enough time to suck in a breath of air before he went under for the second time in as many hours. Sabo mentally cursed as he swam towards the surface and emerged back into the crisp ocean air with a sharp intake of breath before yelling "Never, and I mean _never_ , do that again, Luffy! That scared the shit out of me! Jesus Christ! I thought I was going to die!"

"What do you mean!? Shishishi that was exciting!" Luffy cheered as Sabo swam towards the stone wall of the dock once more. "I wanna do it all again!"

"No!" Ace loudly protested. "I'd rather not hit the pavement like that _ever_ again!"

"But you're fire, so you're fine, right?" Luffy whined.

"I'd rather not have another heart attack!" Koala yelled up in agreement, covering up whatever Ace's response had been and Sabo turned his gaze to find her floating a good, probably, ten yards behind him and to his right.

"Sabo! Koala! There you guys are!" Luffy called down to them, his face appearing over the side of the dock. "Hang on. Gum Gum…"

"Hang on? For what?" A sudden image of what had just happened flashed through his mind's image and his eyes went wide as he watched Luffy's arm pull back. "No! Nononononononononono!" Sabo panicked, shaking his head frantically.

"Grab!" Luffy finished as Sabo clawed at the stones of the harbor and Luffy's hand grabbed the collar of his coat. Sabo tried to dig his haki coated fingers into the stone of the dock, only to be met with more warnings about his surroundings being indestructible and he could have cried as he accepted his fate. Luffy's arm snapped back and gave Sabo whiplash as he was yanked out of the water and flung down onto the dock in a daze. Sabo didn't move as he staring blankly up at the sky and questioned all of his life's choices.

"You okay there, Sabo?" Ace asked as he leaned over the blonde.

"I have died and gone to a rubbery hell." Sabo professed, Koala's yelp punctuating his sentence. "If this is what it will be like sailing with Luffy, I pity those that will call him captain." He decided as Ace offered him a hand to help him up.

"I'm kinda worried about the kind of people he might end up attracting and getting mixed up with. He'll talk to anyone if they give him the chance to. He's going to be a handful, that's for sure, so I hope that they can handle him." Ace added as Sabo accepted the offered hand and Ace pulled the weary Sabo to his feet.

"Luffy's a good judge of character, I think that he'll be fine." Sabo smiled, reaching up to adjust the brim of his hat, only to find that it was long gone and his face fell. It must have blown off when Luffy had rocketed them off the rooftops.

Ace clapped a hand on Sabo's shoulder in sarcastic comfort "Your hat will be in your inventory, don't freak out."

"I know it will… tomorrow." Sabo grumbled bitterly and Ace barked out a laugh.

"Guys! C'mon! I can see the marines running towards us already! Quick! Get on!" Luffy yelled, drawing Sabo's attention to where the boy was wrapped around the top of the mast of his ship with his hand on his hat to keep the wind from taking it. Sabo could hear the confused murmuring of the AI on board at the arrival of this new player.

Sabo leaned down and untied the tether holding his ship to the dock as Ace leapt up and grabbed the railing of the ship and hauling himself over it and onto the deck. Sabo tossed the tether up to Ace, who caught it, before Sabo leapt up himself.

"Alright, guys! Set sail!" Luffy yelled as Sabo dropped onto the deck.

"Since when did I agree to take orders from my little brother!" Ace sneered as he pulled up the anchor for the small ship.

A chorus of "Captain" greeted Sabo as the small group of ten AI turned to look at him, awaiting his orders.

"Do as he says." Sabo ordered as he approached the mast, "Set sail. We're not going far, though. Just to the other side of the mountains."

"To Foosha then?" one of the AI asked for confirmation.

Sabo nodded and the group of AI dispersed, quickly falling into a programmed routine.

"Alright, boys. Now that that terrifying ordeal is over, I'm heading out. Luffy, it was a pleasure to meet you. I don't know when I'll be seeing you next so good luck on your journey. Rage, Dragon-boy, I'll see you both Sunday." Koala declared as she opened up the menu.

"Thanks!" Luffy grinned.

Ace bowed slightly to Koala and said, "It was a pleasure to finally make your acquaintance, Flash, I look forward to working with you on Sunday."

"You as well. I've heard so much about you you might as well be my own brother." Koala laughed.

"Well, Good luck on your final." Sabo called out as he waved.

"Thanks!" Koala nodded before tapping the log out button and dissolving into pixels, quickly fading out of existence.

"Can the marines follow us even though we've set sail?" Luffy asked, breaking the silence as the ship pulled away from the docks and marines poured down the street.

Sabo shook his head, leaning against the railing of the ship and tangling his arms up in the rigging. "Nope. I'm pretty sure all of the marines here are AI, which means that they have a tether so as long as you don't go back you and cause more trouble you shouldn't have a problem with them."

"Does that mean that some of the marines are players?" Luffy asked, seemingly surprised.

"Yeah. A lot of them are actually, but most of the players who are marines won't be found in the blues." Sabo elaborated. "The blues, especially the East Blue, are pretty calm so they prefer to camp out in the New World."

"I didn't realize you could be anything other than a pirate in this game!" Luffy mused.

"You can be a pirate, bounty hunter, marine, or craftsman." Ace elaborated as he took a seat on the desk next to Sabo "More importantly though, how the hell did you figure out how to do all of that stuff back there? I thought rubber would be totally useless and that was your first time ever using your devil fruit like that in general. How did you even come up with all of that on the spot?"

"Like I said at dinner, I already had a whole bunch of ideas about the stuff that I wanted to do! Besides, it was all basic physics. My arms can act like those sticky hands you get from the coin machines. You can fling them and they'll hit pretty hard if you fling them hard enough and then they snap back to their original form. That's what my arms do, just more controlled and like a rubber band where there's tension. If all that makes sense. I don't know if it makes sense. I'm trying to make sense without being technical. Is it working? I don't know. Rocket is like a slingshot but I am the projectile. I use my arms like rubber bands there. Grab was like a sticky hand. And Balloon, well, balloons are rubber right? So I just inflated myself and I kinda acted like a trampoline or an air mattress to take the fall for Sabo and Koala like you do when people gotta jump out of windows or off buildings at work." Luffy clumsily explained, waving his hands in demonstration as he talked.

Ace stared back at Luffy like their brother had just grown horns and turned green and said that he was an alien from the planet Jupiter.

Luffy narrowed his eyes, staring back "What? We learned all about it in physics last semester. Didn't you learn about it when you were in school? It's just the properties of elasticity if I were to get technical with it."

"I slept through physics." Ace admitted.

"And this is why Ace didn't go to college." Sabo snickered.

Ace flipped him off "Don't need college to save lives, bitch."

"Well I need to keep good grades in order to stay on the soccer team, let alone remain its captain, so…" Luffy left that thought hanging in the air as he lifted his hand, swiping down and opening up the menu to check out his skills. "Sweet. It's all here. Gum Gum Rocket, Balloon, and Grab. I've got some ideas for some attacks, too, that I want to try out. I bet I can turn my fist into a pistol." Luffy declared as he widened his stance and punched the air. "But it might be difficult to control…" Luffy mumbled as he pulled his arm through the motion a few times. "I gotta be able to fight if I want to be able to beat you two in a fight." Luffy declared.

"Oh-ho-hoo, you think you're going to be able to beat either one of us in a duel?" Ace smirked.

"Well I have to if I'm going to be Pirate King." Luffy challenge.

"There's that Pirate King business again. What's up with that?" Sabo asked as he untangled his arms from the rigging and crossed them over his chest.

"Okay so did neither of you seriously pay attention to the opening cut scene and tutorial?" Luffy asked, critically tilting is head to the side.

"Who plays through tutorials anymore." Ace scoffed.

"It was almost two years ago, I honestly don't remember anything from it." Sabo explained.

Luffy huffed "Somewhere on these seas there is a grand treasure hidden by the great, legendary pirate Bartholomew Roberts, or Black Bart as he was known. He was named the King of the Pirates during the Golden Age of Piracy that took place in the late 1600s through the early 1700s. His death at sea is what signaled its end. He even wrote the famous pirate's code of honor. Did neither of you pay attention during history class? Anyway, in this game they put an alternate spin on the story and said that Black Bart had a legendary treasure, the One Piece, that he hid somewhere out on the seas and whoever finds that treasure first will be King of the Pirates." Luffy explained, the words just continuing to spill from Luffy's mouth like a waterfall of unexpected facts. If there was anything that Luffy knew best, it was Pirates, Collectible Robot Toys, Beetles, Physics, and Soccer.

"Whoa, slow down now, Luffs. We never learned about pirates in any history class that I ever took." Ace frowned.

"I'd say that it was probably because you slept through it, but I don't remember that either." Sabo agreed.

"Right… that's because it was my personalized class project and not and actual lecture." Luffy sighed. "Never mind class, we had that Pirateology book that we poured over when we were kids! I am so disappointed in you two. To think that the three of us used to pretend we were pirates." Luffy muttered, puffing out his cheeks. "Not to mention that you play a game called One Piece and you don't even remember why it's even called that."

"Back to the story." Ace cut in "Calling the treasure the One Piece doesn't seem like such a great move. I mean. Makes it sound like there is only one piece of treasure and that doesn't exactly inspire me to go on a great quest to find it." he remarked.

"Bartholomew Roberts. And don't blame him for the name, the people apparently looking for the treasure started calling it that. I don't know what the developers were thinking when they went with the name One Piece but it has something to do with how it's all gathered together in one place in one whole piece instead of scattered around the seas." Luffy speculated. "Like I said, the treasure doesn't exist in real life, they invented it for the game. But anyway, the first person to find it will be King of the Pirates and that's all that's important but in order to find the treasure or even start getting clues to where it might be found, you have to sail all the way to the end of the New World."

"To the end game material?" Sabo asked. "That… makes a lot of sense actually. In one of the most recent world updates, they opened up the last part of the ocean and raised the skill level caps for players. No wonder it just slipped my mind. Finding the One Piece was never a priority for anyone because it wasn't available to find to begin with." Sabo mused. "I wonder what that means for the game, though. What happens when someone finds it?"

"Not to mention how hellacious it's going to be out there. The top ranking crews in the game are mostly all camped out in the new world, including my own." Ace reminded then, pointing over his shoulder and to his back before remembering that he was wearing a shirt. He scowled, ripping the offending material off of his shoulders and returning it to his inventory. "Ah, That's better." Ace sighed as he rolled his shoulders. "Oh!" he suddenly exclaimed. "I never got to show you this!" He smiled as he stood, twisting around and gesturing to the large purple and white tattoo across his back. "This is why I was wearing a shirt earlier. I usually don't, but I didn't want to alarm the citizens here. They'd flip is they knew a Whitebeard pirate was all the way out in the Goa Kingdom."

"So cool! That tattoo looks amazing! Is that your jolly roger!? And you have it tattooed on your back!?" Luffy gasped, eyes sparkling.

"It's huge. It practically covers the entire thing." Sabo added, equally as impressed as he examined the purple and white Jolly Roger tattoo plastered across Ace's back.

"I like it so much that I've actually been considering getting it tattooed in real life." Ace admitted. "I've heard that people get their jolly rogers tattooed on them in real life pretty often and I've got enough pride as a Whitebeard Pirate to do it. Talking about it has actually gotten the others to consider getting theirs done, too." Ace grinned, just oozing with happiness. "Pops especially. He's an old man, but he's more enthusiastic about it than I am. Did you know that Pops was actually alive when Atari was still a thing? He owned a 2600! He's always grumbling about how he's been playing video games longer than we've all been alive and how we've all got it easy." Ace laughed, his grin growing impossibly wider.

That more than peaked Sabo's interest "An Atari 2600? No way! The 2600 pretty much created the video game industry. It came out in 1977! That was before the crash!" Sabo gasped, Ace's contagious grin spreading onto his own lips.

"Woah! It's gotta be at least 50 years old!" Luffy realized.

"Pops says that it still works, too." Ace added.

"And I can't even get a laptop a tenth of the age to work half the time." Sabo groaned.

"It's gotta be the wood paneling." Ace snickered.

"You keep calling him Pops…" Luffy suddenly cut in, leaving the unspoken question of 'why?' hanging in the air. It was curious, now that Sabo thought about it. Ace referring to his, Sabo was guessing, captain as his Pops. Ace had always been pretty bitter about the idea of having a father. It was the first thing that Sabo had ever learned about Ace aside from the freckled raven's incredible running endurance.

Sabo turned his gaze from Luffy and back to Ace, who seemed to be pondering the unspoken question for a moment. He seemed to remember something as a grin returned to his lips "Because he calls us his sons."

* * *

"So remind me why we're trekking through the jungle again?" Ace asked.

"Did you never come out here to train?" Sabo asked, raising an eyebrow at his brother.

Ace narrowed his eyes "Not that I can recall." He admitted.

"There are a lot of huge wild beasts out here, and bandits, too. The Grey Terminal outside of Goa is on the other side of the mountain and that is full of all sorts of things." Sabo explained.

"The Grey Terminal?" Ace asked.

"A trash heap." Sabo explained. "It's a lawless zone. A lot of PVP goes on there and it's pretty savage."

"What kind of giant animals are out here?" Luffy asked enthusiastically. Sabo half expected Luffy to beg him to take him to the Grey Terminal so he was mildly surprised.

"Tigers, crocodiles, bears, snakes, and stuff like that." Sabo elaborated.

"Now that I think back, I high-tailed it out of Goa as fast as possible and just plowed right through the East Blue." Ace recalled.

"First rule of gaming strategy in MMOs. You grind levels in the starting area to get the most out of it you can before moving on. Gives you the advantage later on."

"Maybe to you. Besides, there aren't even levels here." Ace countered.

"But there are skill levels." Sabo reminded him.

"You weren't kidding when you said that the animals were huge!" Luffy yelled.

Sabo and Ace immediately froze and slowly turned their heads back forward, gaze taking in white, orange, and black. A tiger. The tiger huffed and Ace's hat flew off of his head and leaving it to dangle from his neck by its string. Sabo squinted his eyes as he tried to keep himself from inhaling too deeply as the tiger's breath lingered around them.

A subtle shift in weight caught Sabo's eyes and he quickly leapt into the air as a massive paw swiped at the air where he was once standing. Sabo pressed a foot into the tiger's forehead and pushed off, driving the tiger's chin towards the ground as he launched himself into the air. He had jumped high enough to grab onto one of the high tree branched and swing himself onto it. He stood as he examined the health bar that hovered off to the side of the tiger's head. It had only dipped slightly, hardly enough to be significant.

It was habit by now as he swiped the air and equipped the metal piped he used like a bow staff. It was done in just a fraction of a second and he didn't even need to look, choosing instead to take in the positions of Ace and Luffy. Ace had leapt off to the side and Luffy had stayed firmly rooted to the ground where he was.

"Let me land a hit! I wanna see how strong I am right now!" Luffy called, urging Sabo to stay and the tree and for Ace to remain off to the side as he backed away from the tiger, keeping his eyes locked with he predators.

Sabo looked to Ace and after a second of silent negotiation he nodded to him, shifting back to the tiger as he crouched, ready to pounce as soon as soon as it looked like Luffy might be in serious danger.

Luffy raised his left hand as if he might be aiming before raising his right as well. "Alright… Gum Gum…" He threw his right arm backwards with enough force that it began to stretch backwards, his left foot raising off the ground and his left hand moving to grip his right shoulder. He gritted his teeth and then yelled "Pistol!" as he slammed his foot back down on the ground and twisted his right shoulder forwards, his arm shooting forwards and connecting with the Tiger's jaw mid-pounce. It's claws fell short of Luffy's body as Luffy's fist twisted it's head to the side and it's body twisted to follow. The momentum of Luffy's punch stopped so abruptly upon contact that the sharp line of his stretched arm broke into sharp waves that compressed and grew smaller as the arm began to retract. Sabo's eyes darted to the tiger's health bar and saw that Luffy's punch had only taken its health down a quarter.

"Gum Gum Whip!" Luffy shouted, bringing Sabo's attention back to his brother as he finished out a mid-air twist that extended his leg out in a sweeping kick, knocking the tiger in the opposite direction that his fist had, sending it stumbling in the other direction. The health was down into the yellow now as Luffy handed back on two feet. It seemed that Luffy's kicking power trained by a lifetime of soccer had carried into the game. Watching the tiger clumsily try and regain its footing and stars dancing around its head, Sabo relaxed. Luffy had this under control. He instead shifted his focus to figuring out where the second tiger would come from as Luffy called out one final attack, Gum Gum Stamp. The one Luffy was fighting was smaller which meant that it was young. Its mother was probably nearby.

Sabo spotted it behind Luffy as the younger raven prematurely celebrated his first victory; the tiger crumbling into pixels and a rewards window appeared before him. "Careful, Lu!" Sabo yelled, launching himself out of the tree and dashing forward. He blocked the second tiger's attempt to chomp down on his little brother by snapping it's jaw shut with an uppercut of his pipe. Luffy yelped and ducked, hand on his hat as he turned to look at the second – much larger – tiger as Ace dove in, foot slamming into the ribs of the beast to throw it off balance.

"Step back and let us handle this." Ace ordered as he landed.

"Let me help! It's not like I can actually get hurt!" Luffy protested "Besides. Didn't you say that you trained your early days with these guys!?"

"Not this girl!" Sabo clarified. "But fine, you can help." He assented as he ducked beneath a paw swipe and dove forward.

"Lu! Rocket!" Ace shouted as Sabo caught his weight with his hands, absorbing the shock with an elbow bend.

"Gum Gum…" Luffy began as Sabo converted his momentum into an upward kick into the chest of the tiger with enough force to knock it upwards.

"Now!" Ace shouted as Sabo landed back on his feet.

"ROCKET!" Luffy finished.

"Fire Fist!" Ace shouted a mere second later before a fist engulfed in flames slammed into the tiger's chest. The beast was thrown backwards and sent plowing through trees, Ace hovering in the air for a brief second before dropping back down to the ground next to Sabo.

As they watched the tiger crumble into pixels, Luffy squeezed between them and slung his arms around their shoulders as he bounced in excitement. "You two are so strong! That was amazing! Sabo, I always through that you were lame—"

"Hey!"

"—But you're so cool here! Holy crap! How strong are you guys!? Which one of you is stronger!?" Luffy asked as he ignored the skill update window that popped up in front of him.

Ace stiffened, fire seeming to lick off of his body at Luffy's final question.

"Ah, that would be me," Sabo smirked. "I rank higher than him." Sabo boasted as Luffy released them and turned around to face them.

"But have you fought each other before?" Luffy asked.

"No, actually. Today is the first time we've even met in game. We've never actually fought each other." Sabo clarified, thinking carefully about what Luffy might be on about.

"How do you know that you're stronger if you've never fought him before?" Luffy stated simply. Bingo. Sabo's eyes darted over to Ace, whose eyes seemed to be sparkling as he turned to Sabo with a wicked grin. Shit.

Sabo started to second-guess himself. Was he stronger than Ace? They were pretty close in rank. Stats mean nothing when you're close in rank. It would be that out of 100 fights Sabo would only win 52 of them. It could all be situational, technique, one fighting style matching up to another, or any number of factors that could determine who was actually stronger out of the two of them.

In the first fight, Sabo figured that he might be able to win because he had the advantage of Ace being used to wrestling an asthmatic, out-of-shape nerd in the real world as opposed to quick, fancy footwork, pipe twirling, and haki talons that he fought with here. Ace's fire was a problem, sure, but devil fruits had weaknesses he'd learned long ago how to use to his advantage, the seastone end piece for his pipe being one of them. Sabo could also gauge based on Ace's own evaluating glare that he had figured most of things out for himself and was rendering all of Sabo's supposed advantaged back to moot, but Ace can't know how proficient he is with Haki yet so he still had that up his sleeve. But then again it was probably obvious that he used it at his rank. Shit. Ace was smart he might not have any advantages at all.

"I suppose we wont know until we find out!" Ace determined, launching himself at Sabo.

Sabo caught Ace's fist in one hand and locked fingers with his other, their foreheads pressing together as they matched each other's challenging smiles. "How about this," Sabo negotiated, "No weapons, no devil fruits, no haki, just pure hand-to-hand combat. Deal?"

Ace smirked "Deal." He pulled away from Sabo, using the momentum to twist his body and bring his left foot up into a sweeping arc towards Sabo's head. Sabo ducked, grasping Ace's leg mid-kick. Ace's kicks were strong, but Sabo's fighting style was centered around his hands and they were much stronger. Taking advantage of Ace's lower flexibility, Sabo pushed up on Ace's leg as he stood, shifting Ace's center of gravity. To counter that, Ace threw his hands backwards and brought his body into a flip, bringing his right foot up into a bicycle kick to Sabo's chin, which Sabo narrowly dodged as he released Ace's leg and threw his head backwards. Ace's boot grazed the skin of Sabo's neck as he stumbled back and Ace landed back on his feet.

Sabo evaluated Ace and could see Ace evaluating him across the short distance between them. They had both fallen into their natural stances, Sabo with his knees bent and his weight on his toes, hands up in their dragon talon formation. Ace was standing similarly, but with his hands not in fists but relaxed and in a more neutral pose.

It felt nice to be able to hold his own in a fight against Ace for once — more then hold his own, actually. It felt nice to be able to match Ace kick for kick, punch for punch, and throw for throw as they sparred for the next half hour before their final match drew to a close. Ace had lost the first match and it had quickly become a best two out of three and Ace had won the second round.

"Wow! That last one was close, but Sabo still beat Ace! Sabo's definitely not lame anymore shishishi. I want to get good enough to spar with you two as an equal! I'm so excited! It's going to be so fun! I'm going to kick _both_ of your asses." Luffy declared.

"You? Kick _our_ asses?" Ace sneered from his spot lying on the ground where Sabo had pinned him to win the match. His hat was lying in the dirt somewhere to his left. "Like hell you will! There's no way I'm getting beat by my little brother." Ace declared as he sat up, running a hand through his tangle of black hair.

"Agreed." Sabo smirked as he stooped to pick up Ace's hat. "It wouldn't be right. There's no way I'm going to let it happen." Sabo agreed as he handed Ace his hat.

"We've been over this already! I gotta!" Luffy insisted as Ace fit his cowboy hat back atop his head.

"I look forward to it." Sabo said, giving Luffy an honest smile as Sabo held out a hand to Ace to help him up.

"Same." Ace agreed as he accepted Sabo's hand and stood.

The next hour was spent finding more creatures for Luffy to fight (there was a close call with the crocodiles where Luffy's health had dipped into the yellow) in between quick sparring matches against Ace and Sabo alternatively. By the end of the half hour after that they were standing on the wooden dock of Foosha Village, Sabo's ship docked to their right and a dinghy floating in the water before them.

"Are you sure you only want my dinghy?" Sabo asked, an eyebrow raised as he stared at the small craft.

"Nah. This is what people usually start with, right?" Luffy refused.

"This is what I had." Ace admitted.

"That's because you left Goa on your own in a heartbeat. Most people either join a crew permanently or temporarily to either stay or buy their own ship. Taking on the Grey Terminal I managed to make enough money to buy a small ship with a few crew members." Sabo defended.

"I'd rather not have an AI crew." Ace frowned. "There's just something about them."

"When you're mostly a solo player, it becomes necessary. I don't have a crew of thousands of players at my fingertips like you do."

"Alright! I'm setting off!" Luffy declared. Sabo's head snapped around to find Luffy already in the dingy and pushing himself away from the dock with his barrel of supplies.

"Already!?" Ace complained.

"Yeah. You guys were being boring." Luffy stuck his tongue out at them.

"Don't stay up too late! You have school tomorrow!" Sabo called out to him. "And it's already ten o'clock!"

"And watch out for the Lord of the Coast!" Ace added.

"Shit. There's a small sea king out there, isn't there?" Sabo recalled.

"Yup."

"Think he can handle it?"

"Yeah, he can handle it."

"You sure?" Sabo asked as the large beast reared its head up out of the water in front of Luffy and roared.

"He's got this." Ace assured him, punching Sabo lightly in the arm.

* * *

A/N: And that's a wrap! (Wopps. My obsession with real pirates [which led to my obsession with fake pirates] and my love for video game history kinda leaked into this chapter. Not sorry.)

Thank you all so much for the follows, favorites, and reviews! It makes me happy to know that there are people out there that are enjoying reading this story as much as I enjoy writing it.

Just as a heads up, I only have 5 weeks left in the semester before finals week, so if Chapter 5 or Chapter 6 comes a week late, don't panic. I'm going to try to stay on my two week schedule, though. Can't make promises but i am going to try. Just gotta balance my time well.

Next Chapter: It's finally time to Shake things up a bit

To be continued...


	5. Ch 5: Conspiracy Prt 1

A/N: Surprise early chapter! I got the new chapter done and figured I'd post it a few days early in order to free up my weekend time to work on animating my Dragon for my Final Project in 3D Animation.

To those it may concern: Mentions of Minor Character Death

* * *

 **Chapter Five**

Sabo drew his lips to the side and stared through his laptop rather than at it as he tapped the J key absent-mindedly without pressing it. A lot had happened in the last two months since Luffy's birthday, but the words on his screen had the potential to be the most curious event of it all as he thought back on everything that had happened.

It had all started with John Swasey – AKA Crocodile. Alabasta had not been Sabo's shining moment. Not by a long shot, but he couldn't really be blamed for it. Nothing had really gone _wrong_ because of him. Just… delayed. Near the start of the event, they had split up their small group into smaller pieces in order to gather information in Alabasta's major cities and figure out what was going on much faster. Sabo had volunteered and gone to Katorea for his mission and what he'd ended up finding was the Rebel Army. To summarize: things were said, information was gathered, someone (Sabo) got a little too passionate, and a rebellion was joined without consulting the rest of the team. They'd almost run out of time and failed the mission entirely, but Fennec had pieced together the truth of Alabasta's plight while gathering info in Nanohana and quickly sent out a mass message and flew his way back to Alubarna. Sabo had ignored that message and was gearing up to attack the palace. Ace had been the one to find and drag Sabo's ass away from his rebellious tendencies and remind him that the king was not the real enemy. Crocodile was. Of course it was Crocodile. How could Sabo have forgotten? Easily, apparently, when the people were suffering because it appeared that the King had been using Dance Powder to steal the rain. And Koala had been the one to find the bomb in the capital square.

Ace's intervention had been the only reason why Sabo, alongside the fourth division commander, had even gotten a chance to see Crocodile face-to-face atop the royal palace. Seeing the man up close, it was really hard to ignore how much he resembled the programmer. Apart from that, there was nothing else that Sabo had particularly noticed about the warlord other than his strange amount of intelligence and how, well, _human_ he seemed. He had no basic attack patterns, everything was calculated, he learned from your own fighting styles and adapted accordingly. He learned. To Sabo it had simply been a marvel of technology. An impressive feat of programming that was able to create an AI that intelligent, difficult, and skilled. Sabo was so impressed that he'd written an article about it and then let the thought go, resolving not to pursue the matter much further once he'd come to that conclusion.

Fast forward two weeks and "Clash! God's Judgment" was upon them. Prior to the announcement of the event, most players were unaware that Skypeia had even existed. Players quickly realized why when finding it had proven to be a very tedious, difficult, and dangerous chore. The number of challengers for the event was hardly even notable in comparison to the number of groups that had challenged Alabasta. If Sabo remembered correctly, only some 500 players had participated in the Skypeia event. Luffy and his crew, alongside half of the Heart Pirates, had been the first of only a handful that had managed to complete it, officially landing them a place on the front page of the News Coo.

Sabo hadn't initially planned on making the trek up to Skypeia himself. But when Luffy sat down at the dinner table with him and Ace, blabbering on and on about the event, there was something amongst the chatter about new friends, finally acquiring a navigator, and the devil fruit that turned one of his crewmates into a reindeer, that had managed to catch his attention. He'd prompted Luffy for more information about the big boss of the event, Eneru, and Luffy had happily complied. There was definitely something different about Eneru and Ace urged Sabo to go and see it for himself, but was unable to offer his own assistance because he was too far away from Skypeia to make it back in time. So, Sabo made the decision to take this event on for himself, and with the help of Luffy's newly acquired navigator, Orange_Delight, and his new friends, the Heart Pirates, he'd traveled up to the island in the sky… for a large fee of course.

Skypeia had been hell in heaven. Sabo, alongside the redheaded navigator, half of the heart pirates, and a few solo players, took up the challenge together and faced the survival games head on. It was absolutely chaotic. The boss had to have been the worst part of the entire miserable experience. Eneru was a total nutcase and the things that he had said had left Sabo scratching his head. The AI had a god complex and even that felt like an understatement. Eneru was full of himself in all of the worst ways, but not in the typical video game villain kind of way. Eneru felt more like he was breaking the fourth wall with his arrogance. Simply put, he was aware. He was aware of the difference between himself and the players. He laughed at everyone's "petty mortality" and boasted about how he was an immortal being. He traveled around the island in bolts of lightning to laugh at players as they struggled and he challenged people at random out of utter boredom and tallied up the numbers as he destroyed them one by one. It was utterly insane. The most curious thing that Eneru had said, however, was that even if he'd been defeated once and regardless of if he would be defeated again, he would just come back better than ever. The players would die and reset while he continued to live. Eneru had told Sabo how many players he had killed by his own hands and laughed at how they'd have to struggle to regain everything that they had lost. Usually an AI would reset after every battle but this. This was data persistence. He remembered everything. Sabo had lost that battle and supposed that Luffy's rubber body had been what had given him the upper hand in his fight against the lightning logia. Sabo still hadn't gotten his stats back up to where they had been before he'd died. Skypeia had been downright vicious and following the event, Sabo had logged out and done some digging, but he'd found nothing. There was nothing that Sabo could find about who this Eneru person might have been based off of – if anyone – so Sabo had let the trail go cold. Sabo had accepted that Eneru was just another boss with an amazing intelligence that had been created by Jon Swasey.

Last week, the third event had kicked off, but it wasn't an event like the last two events had been. This event was permanent and aimed towards a specific class of players – swordsman. It was titled "Clash! The Wandering Swordsman" and an AI by the name of Mihawk (whom Sabo recognized as one of the seven warlords of the sea) would roam the seas in search of worthy opponents and any swordsman who wished to test their meddle would have the opportunity to challenge him to a duel. He could show up at any time and anywhere. It operated pretty much like another one of the random events that might occur at sea that could go well or horribly wrong. Sabo and his brothers had agreed that this event did not count and that the next one would have to be the event that they challenged together. And it was that that brought Sabo to this curious moment in time as he read back over the contents of the chat window on his laptop screen.

Straw_Hat_Luffy: Hey, Sabo? You there?

dragonlord23: Yeah, is something wrong?

Straw_Hat_Luffy: Um.

Straw_Hat_Luffy: Well.

Straw_Hat_Luffy: my friend Santoryuu (the green haired swordsman. can't remember if you've met him) fought Mihawk.

dragonlord23: And?

Straw_Hat_Luffy: Hang on. Never mind. I'm gonna log out and talk to you in person.

It had been several minutes since then and Sabo was still wondering what the hell was going on, but whatever it was Luffy seemed to be a little uncomfortable or nervous about it. Which was rare. A soft knock on his door brought Sabo out of his thoughts and he turned in his chair as the door creaked open.

"Sorry for the wait." Luffy apologized as his head poked through the crack in the doorway. He was oddly reserved and that worried Sabo. Usually he threw the door open without knocking and now Sabo was even more concerned about what had happened. "I still get a little bit wobbly sometimes when I come out of the dive." Luffy explained as he invited himself into the room, made his way over to Sabo's bed, and sat down on the edge with his feet dangling at Sabo's side. The boy's eyes scanned the posters hanging on the blonde's walls as he chewed on his lower lip. It was obvious that he was stalling.

"So your friend fought Mihawk?" Sabo prompted, urging Luffy to go on.

Luffy nodded "Yeah. Toru fought Mihawk last week and well... I donno. He." Luffy sighed, seeming to be struggling. "Toru came back from the fight and he." Luffy's shoulders slumped. "I don't think I've ever seen him look so broken. Sure he lost the fight, but that's one thing. This was a different kind of broken, y'know? He was like a ghost and he was caught in a daze. We asked him what had happened and he didn't say anything just… logged out. And he didn't come back. We tried messaging him but he never responded to anyone. He was gone for a week. He's never been gone for that long. Not without saying something, being in contact, or getting on for at least a while. It was like he'd dropped off the face of the planet. We were all really worried about him…" Luffy frowned, staring down at his intertwined fingers like they were suddenly the most interesting things in the room as he fidgeted. "He came back today and he… he pulled me aside and he explained everything to me. Everything that had happened and why he'd left." Luffy recalled softly, tucking his hands under his thighs and tapping his toes together, eyes focused on the floor.

"You… you wrote that article right?" Luffy asked. "The one about the AI actin' human and how hard it had to have been to make it like that. How amazing Croco-man must have been as a human to be able to create something that intricate and some other stuff about it that I don't really remember because I stopped paying attention. But then there was that one about that god guy, too, that you wrote."

"Yeah." Sabo confirmed "I wrote about how it finally made sense that they'd used Crocodile to pay tribute to Jon Swasey. It was because it show cased his creation and what amazing work he'd done in creating the Boss AI. And then with Eneru, I wrote about how odd Eneru was acting and how it made sense that they'd placed him in an area where few players had gone and few players were sure to challenge him and even fewer would be able to defeat. It was almost like he was a faulty AI or… something. I couldn't put my finger on it but it was some Skynet shit. Seemed like Eneru was learning that the programming was _too_ good or something."

Luffy picked at a loose string on his soccer shorts, nodding absently as Sabo talked about his articles and as soon as Sabo was done, Luffy stated "You need to talk to Zoro" as he lifted his eyes and met Sabo's. "When Zoro was done I asked him if it was okay for me to ask you to talk to him about it as well and that if it'd make him more comfortable about than I would be there with you guys, too. I know I'll probably screw it up if I tried to tell you myself so I wanted you to hear it from him directly. He was hesitant because it was personal but then he agreed because you're my brother and he trusts you. So… do you think that you could meet us in-game?"

Sabo relaxed back in his chair as he let that all soak in, slightly more confused now than he was before, but he at least knew where to look and where the answers would come. Luffy hadn't revealed much, but what he had revealed had been enough for Sabo to piece together the general idea of what he was about to find out from Luffy's friend. It did not bode well if it had effected Luffy's friend as much as Luffy had said it did. Sabo nodded "Yeah. Sure. If he's okay with it then I can meet up with you guys. Where are you guys located?"

"We just left Water Seven with a new ship so I don't know exactly where we are, but I can get you some coordinates. Toru would prefer if we met off shore, anyway." Luffy informed him.

"I've been heading that way for a while now. Not sure of an exact location for me, either. Hmm what time should we meet?"

"As soon as possible? Preferably today?" Luffy offered questioningly.

Sabo turned back to his laptop and tapped the touch pad to wake it up before punching in his password. He pulled up his offline One Piece app and tapping over to ship management window. A map appeared on the screen with a blue dot that represented the location of his ship, slowly moving across the grid. Luffy hopped off of the bed and leaned over Sabo to peer at the map. He reached over Sabo's shoulder to point a finger to an area on the map "We're somewhere around here so…" he reached over Sabo's other shoulder and pointed at the dot that represented Sabo's ship and then brought his fingers together in the middle. "Hmm… How long do you think it will take to meet in the middle?" he asked, leaning against Sabo's back and letting his arms drop down to dangle lazily against Sabo's chest.

"Probably an hour?" Sabo estimated.

"Ugh." Luffy groaned as he ground his forehead against the back of Sabo's head. "Travel takes so long in this game. It's so fun, but it's a pain in the ass when you want to meet up with someone. I had to wait three whole days to meet up with Law after you took half his crew and my new navigator with you to Skypeia. It's ridiculous." Luffy complained with an agitated sigh.

"Law?" Sabo inquired, not recalling ever meeting a player called Law.

"Doctor_Heart_Stealer, captain of the Heart Pirates. He and most of his crew were busy when you challenged the event but the part of his crew that hadn't faced it with me went with you to see what they missed out on. He hates his username, by the way. So if he ever pisses you off just call him that and watch him lose his mind, shishishi. But then again... last time i did that it wasn't so fun..." Luffy shivered and Sabo was suddenly very curious. He remembered talk about the Heart Captain's devil fruit though and it might have had something to do with that. "He wasn't the one that came up with the username, you see? His friends, Pen-guy and Whale-Head, did so he can't change it because they used a random email account to do it and they wont give him the password to change it so he's stuck with it. " Luffy explained. "He refuses to go by anything that has to do with his username and he threatens to kill Pen-guy and Whale-head over it every day and he told us to just call him Law, so we do. Enough about Law, though." Luffy interrupted himself. "This is about Toru. Send our navigator your coordinates when you get online and then she can tell you where to meet us." Luffy finalized as he straightened back up.

"Alright. Sounds like a plan." Sabo agreed.

"See ya in… ugh. See ya in an hourish." Luffy waved before slipping out of Sabo's room and closing the door behind him.

Sabo turned back to his laptop and eyed the article he'd been working on prior to Luffy's message and then saved it just in case before he shut his laptop and stood. He crawled into bed, pulled on the headset, got comfortable, and closed his eyes, saying "Set sail," and the machine hummed to life.

* * *

Sabo watched as the green-haired swordsman on Luffy's ship took one look at Sabo's crew across the distance and turned to Luffy, shaking his head and saying something before walking out of sight. For a second Sabo thought that maybe the swordsman had changed his mind about talking to him before Luffy leaned over the railing and shouted across the distance "We're gonna meet on the Sunny, Okay? Toru doesn't want to talk on your ship!" Sabo almost took offense to that before he remembered that, save Koala and the occasional Hack, his crew was made up entirely of AI. A quick sweep of the visible crew on Luffy's ship told him that Luffy's crew was the exact opposite. There wasn't a single non-player character on board the new ship. Was Toru's experience with Mihawk so unnerving that he wasn't even willing to be near the simple AI of Sabo's ship yet? Before Sabo could start to arrange a rowboat to cross the distance between the two ships, Luffy added "Stay put! We're gonna come get you, okay?" and scampered away from the railing.

"Got it!" Sabo shouted back, raising an eyebrow as he scanned the ship for any potential craft that might be able to sail over to retrieve him and return to the lion-headed ship. It was then that the numbers on the side of the ship began to turn and Sabo had to marvel at the incredible ingenuity of it's creation. He had no idea the game was even capable of creating somethig like this as the number lifted to reveal a miniature steam boat. Wait. A steam boat? Those existed? They didn't have to row? That was all kinds of unfair to Sabo as he bitterly tossed the rope ladder over the railing of his own ship, watching as Luffy and the Navigator made their way over to his ship. When they started to draw near, Sabo climbed over the railing and began his descent down the ladder.

The seats of what had been named the Mini Merry II were extremely comfortable and Sabo was getting more and more jealous of Luffy's ship and it's shipwright with every second that went by with Luffy chattering about it's features. There was a shark submarine, a waiver from Skypeia, paddles that meant that they didn't have to row _ever_ , the ship ran on cola, shot laser beams, had it's own fish tank, it had a library so big that Sabo never wanted to see it for fear of never leaving it again. It wasn't long before the steam boat was docked, the gate was closed, and they were climbing up onto the grassy deck of the ship. Yes. Grassy. There was a beautiful lawn on Luffy's ship and Sabo could only gape at it, the trees, the slide, and the swing. Was this a ship or a playground? The hell. They could build things like this? Since when?

"Guys!" Luffy announced to the present crew "This is Sabo! Sabo you've met Oran, our navigator. The little guy with the curly brown hair is Chopperman! He's a doctor!"

"Saying that isn't going to make me happy, asshole! You can just call me Chopper" The boy gushed from across the deck with a grin. Sabo smiled and waved a greeting before slightly squinting his eyes at him. He looked really young. Too young, in fact, to be playing One Piece.

"Franky is here somewhere. He's got blue hair! And he's a _Cyborg_. He's also our shipwright!" So Sabo now had a name to put to the incredible shipwright that built this marvel of a ship. "And Law might be lurking around somewhere. Or at least he was a half hour ago. He probably logged out."

"He did. He was only planning on being online for an hour to begin with. Just to check in and say hey." Oran confirmed. "And since we were going to pick up your brother he decided to clock out early."

"Aw. Okay. Anyway, we're gonna go talk to Toru now. Bye. C'mon Sabo." Luffy urged as he grabbed Sabo by the sleeve to tug him towards the ladder that led up to the crow's nest high above them.

"Nice to meet you!" Sabo called out to Chopper as he waved. "And it was good seeing you again, Oran." He added with a wave her direction as he grabbed the bottom rung of the ladder. "See you guys again at Thriller Bark, yeah?"

"Yup!" Chopper grinned. "Sounds like it's gonna be scary, though…"

"I never did well with ghosts…" Oran sighed.

Sabo laughed "We'll see."

"C'mon, Sabo!" Luffy called down from halfway up the ladder.

"Coming." Sabo called back as he began to climb.

Sabo began to notice that the higher that they got, the quieter Luffy became and the more subtle he made his movements. He was almost silent by the time that he reached the last few rungs and knocked lightly on the hatch before opening it up just a crack with his head. "Toru?" he asked quietly.

"Yeah, you guys can come in." came the rumble of a response from the green-haired swordsman.

"Kay." Luffy responded quietly before slithering through the hatch, holding it open for Sabo to climb through, and closing it again.

Sabo scanned the room full of weights and realized that the room also doubled as a strength training room, which was very convenient. And Toru definitely seemed the type to spend a lot of time up there. Sabo crossed the room and took a seat near Toru on the couch that lined the wall, not bothering to examine the room any further as Luffy took a seat on the floor nearby to form a triangle between them. The swordsman didn't so much as twitch as they got settled. He simply continued to stare out the window at some fixed point on the distant horizon. Luffy remained uncharacteristically silent and Sabo took this as a sign that he should remain quiet as well and let the man start talking on his own terms. So wait he did.

Several moments passed and Sabo was almost certain that Toru had changed his mind about talking and he was almost ready to suggest that he leave, but before he could Toru spoke "I challenged Mihawk, but… I suppose that you already knew that, right?" He said, gaze lazily drifting towards Sabo.

Sabo nodded, prompting him to continue.

"They tell us," Toru began, his gaze shifting back to the window once more "That these bosses aren't real people, that they're just AI based on real people. Made to look like real people. Pay tribute to real people and I believed them at first, but…" Toru fell silent and Sabo hardly dared to breath to disturb the silence that rarely existed when Luffy was in the room. Toru's gaze dropped to the seam between the couch and the wall as he took a deep breath "But then I met Mihawk." He exhaled, "I should back up… um… in the real world…" his eyes flickered to Luffy, to Sabo, and then back outside. "There is a man named John Gremillion. Do you know him?"

Sabo shook his head "I'm afraid I don't."

"Not surprised. It's a niche thing. He's a world champion swordfighter. Any style… you name it, he's mastered it. They say he's the greatest swordsman in the world, so it was no surprise to me that when I challenged Mihawk he looked just like him. Why have the greatest swordsman in the world look like someone who isn't the world's greatest swordsman, right?" Toru chucked humorlessly as he lifted his right hand off the back of the couch and rubbed it across the side of his face, coming to rest with his fingers tangled in his hair and his face resting against his arm.

"When we dueled is when things got weird." Toru continued. "It's easy, I suppose, to program a sword fighter. I'm sure there's algorithms and cues or some shit. They could have studied every single god damn video of him fighting at competitions to analyze his attack and defense strategy. Animated him perfectly. Copied everything almost perfectly into the system. It could have fooled me. I was almost convinced that it was really him, the way that he handled his sword and the way he moved and the way he—" Toru cut himself off with a frustrated exhale through his nose. "I'm getting ahead of myself. It… should have been impossible, but that wasn't even the beginning of it." Toru scoffed with irony before admitting, "You see, my name is Zoro and... John was my father."

Keyword 'was' Sabo noted as his eyes went wide with surprise. A bit of fidgeting from Luffy's caught his attention as the boy squirmed on the floor, seeming to be debating something.

Zoro took a soft breath before continuing, "About a month ago… dad got invited out to a tournament in Boston and he accepted. He doesn't often do that, but he said that he'd been getting bored and that he'd go check it out and see if there was anyone there who might change that. A week goes by. The tournament should have been long over. My sister and I hear nothing from him. Dad was never a talkative guy, and he never called or texted much anyway so it wasn't much of a surprise but usually he lets us know if something's come up but we figured he'd be fine. Maybe he found someone who caught his interest and trained them for a few days." Zoro said with a mirthless half smile as he shook his head. "And then we got the phone call. It was the police asking if I was Zoro and when I confirmed they asked me if I was related to a John Gremillion. I confirmed and said that he was my dad…" Zoro's fake smile faded as he rubbed the back of his neck with a sigh. "And then they'd said they'd found his body..."

Luffy stood quietly and then sat down behind Zoro, lifting his legs onto the seat as he turned and lightly pressed his back against the swordsman's. Zoro visibly relaxed at the show of comfort, tension seeming to ooze out of his body. Luffy had always been good at supporting people when they needed it most.

With that, Zoro switched his train of thought and closed his eyes, leaning the back of his head against the back of Luffy's. "When I was younger, Dad and I used to spar all the time. I'd practiced Kendo when I still lived in Japan until…" Zoro took a deep shaky breath "… _that_." He finished vaguely. "He took an interest in me and challenged me to keep fighting when I was ready to give it all up. Too many bad memories kept resurfacing every time I picked up a _bokuto_ , but He kept pushing and pushing and eventually I started pushing back. The next thing I knew two years had passed since that day and I was heading off to America as his son. I'd missed two years of school at that point so transitioning into an american middle school had been hard. I was always older than my peers and people avoided me because of my scowl and I was okay with that. Hated when the kids made fun of my accent and they always did. So, I didn't have any friends until I was a sophomore in high school." Zoro smiled fondly at the memory and his eyes fluttered open "Usopp was a wreck back then. He was lucky I was late to class that day." Luffy made a sound of curious surprise at that and Sabo wondered who this Usopp guy was. It sounded as if Luffy knew him. Perhaps he was another crewmember?

Zoro sighed and the smile faded "But that's not important right now. Dad and I were always sparring. We sparred every night in the mini dojo behind the house and fighting Mihawk… it had been just like fighting dad all over again. The way that he talked, the way he walked, the way he held himself. It was all dad." Zoro scowled, his eyebrows knitting closely together "Dad never talked much. He never gave speeches. He was always quiet in front of the camera and somehow this… this… _imposter_ named Mihawk was suddenly saying the things that he said and doing the things that he did. The same insults that he'd always used to get me riled up, the same encouragement to fight harder, the same scolding when I got too boarish. The same sword strokes, the way that he parried, the was he turned his fucking foot that told me he was about to shift into the offensive and utterly destroy me for fucks sake it was there! You can't program that! It's fucking impossible and don't you dare tell me that it is." He spat before taking a deep shaky breath to calm himself down before continuing in a softer tone. "I was convinced that maybe, just maybe, Mihawk was actually my dad." He admitted as he all but collapsed his weight against Luffy's supportive back once more. "That maybe dad wasn't dead. That maybe I hadn't lost my family all over again. That maybe they'd lied or mistaken the body. They hadn't let me see it after all, y'know. We hardly even had a funeral and it was barely a blip in the news. i thought That this Mihawk character maybe really was my father and they he'd just been roped into playing the part of this wandering swordsman in One Piece for some stupid ass reason. This Mihawk didn't just look the same as my dad did, he was the same. _Exactly_ the same. But at the same time… not the same. He was lifeless. Robotic. That doesn't make sense because as an AI he was so full of life... It was him but it just felt wrong, y'know? And he… he didn't even know who I was…" Zoro trailed off, letting those words hang in the air for a moment before he slowly shifted his gaze back to Sabo, his piercing grey eyes pinning Sabo to the couch as he continued "Something… is going on here."

Sabo let out a breath he hadn't realized that he'd been holding as he let that all sink in. "I always knew that something might have been going on behind the scenes here, but… that. That is on a whole different level. That… you said Boston, right?" Saob asked, the gears turning in Sabo's head.

Zoro nodded. "Yup. Boston, Massachusetts."

"Celestial is headquartered near Boston." Sabo stated as he stood abruptly. "Looks like I'll be paying an overdue visit to a good friend of mine."

* * *

"Hey, Chris. I'm taking a week off of work." Sabo spoke into the new cellphone wedged between his ear and shoulder as he scoured his room for things he needed to pack.

"A week!?" his boss gasped.

"Yeah. A whole week."

"You hardly ever ask for a day off but a _week_?"

"I'm going to be visiting an old friend of mine in Boston." Sabo explained as he began to unplug the Celestial Dragon headset and pack it into its box.

"The one who goes to MIT now? Used to visit the shop all the time?"

"Yup. That one."

"What week will you be taking off then?"

"This one. Leaving tonight." Sabo said as he checked the time on his watch and grimaced. He had 20 minutes left to get ready if he wanted to catch his flight on time.

"That's a bit short notice." Chis warned and Sabo could mentally picture the scowl on his face.

"I know, I know." Sabo conceded as he wrapped all the wires up and tucked them into the box as well. "I already talked to Sam and she's okay with taking over my shift tomorrow, Wednesday, and Saturday. She said that she needs the extra money for Con season anyway." Sabo explained as he scanned the room repeatedly for anything else that he might need as he packed the headset box into his suitcase and surrounded it by clothes as a pseudo cushion.

"So that means that I'll be taking over your Thursday shift since we still haven't finalized the new hire to fill in the Tuesdays and Fridays you no longer work every week." Chris concluded.

"I'll work an extra day if it makes you feel better." Sabo teased as he took his phone in hand and scanned his room and the bathroom for anything that he might have missed.

"Nope. It's your paycheck. Really though, it's good. I'm glad you're finally taking some time for yourself now. Spend some time with your brothers. Hang out with your old friends. Get an internship at the damn newspaper for Christ's sake. You're going to college to be journalist not to sit in a game shop for the rest of your life. You're wasting your time and your money."

Sabo sighed, "I know I know, it's just hard. I love the shop everything that we do there. Weekends are a blast and you are the best boss ever, especially for letting me do this on such sort notice."

"Yeah, yeah, but I'm also your friend, Sabs. Don't ever forget that."

"The best of friends." Sabo agreed.

"You've got that right! Well have f—"

Sabo hung up the phone and scrolled through his contacts for another name on the list and hit the call button.

"Sabo! You ready yet!?" Sabo heard Shanks call from downstairs.

"Yeah! I'll be down in a sec!" Sabo called back, listening to the dial tone as he picked up the borrowed suitcase and his laptop bag and carried them downstairs. The phone had just started on its third ring when the line was picked up. Sabo had to pull the phone away from his ear for a second as he was assaulted by loud music and someone yelling for the music to be turned down and when it finally was "Hello? Who's this?"

"Hey, Useless." Sabo smiled, recognizing the voice of Eustass Kid.

"Sabotage! How've you been!? I can't believe you finally got yourself a phone! It's a fucking miracle! I told you your ass would need a phone one day." The voice on the other end celebrated. His voice faded for a moment as it's speaker turned away from the phone to talk "It's Sabo! Remember him? … What do you mean you haven't met him? Yes you have! Don't lie. … yeah, dipshit, he was the one that was here when I moved into the dorms freshman year. … You're my roommate. You were there asshole. What other Sabo could it possibly have been!?" Sabo held in the chuckles he could feel bubbling up in his chest as he listened to his old friend cuss up his usual storm and waited for him to re-direct his attention to their phone call.

Shanks opened the front door for him and Sabo stepped outside "Sorry about that Sabo" Kid apologized "You remember Leo, right?"

"Yeah you're 'fucking awesome' roommate you've had since freshman year. Blonde hair. Quiet. Pretty chill. Think I've met him in game once, too. They call him the Massacre Soldier or something like that?"

"Yup. That's the one." Kid confirmed.

"Hey. Sorry to interrupt the pleasantries but I'm in a rush." Sabo said as he climbed into the passenger seat of Shank's Red Force SUV. "Some last second business came up and I'm going to be in Boston for the week, you got any room for a guest?"

"Right down to business as always, eh? Yeah! I've got some space for you. You're fuckin lucky that I'm not living on campus anymore. We don't have a shitty guest room anymore, though. There's four of us living in this house and the one extra room got converted into a workshop. The couch _is_ a futon though so there's still space for you. What are you going to be doing out here in Boston, if I might ask?"

"Ask me again when I'm at your house. Don't have time to explain over the phone nor do I particularly want to." Sabo explained as he stared out the window of the car as Shanks drove through town to the airport.

"Well alright then, when are you going to be here?"

"About… seven?"

"The seventh?"

"No. 7 o'clock."

"Tonight!?"

"Yeah. Tonight."

"Jesus Christ, talk about short notice! Fucking hell. Uh. I'll pick you up from the airport. Call me again when you land so that I can tell you where to find me."

"Will do." Sabo agreed, pulling the phone away from his ear.

"Actually it might be—"

Sabo hung up the phone and just as he was about to set it down on his lap, it began to buzz with a stream of text messages he didn't check until he got to the airport, through the routine checks, and was sitting down at the gate and waiting for his flight.

' _Rude as Fuck!'_

' _Don't hang up like that, asshole'_

' _God.'_

' _You still haven't stopped doing that shit.'_

' _Common courtesy is to wait till someone says bye'_

' _Not end the fucking conversation right in the middle of it.'_

' _Jesus Christ'_

' _Fuck.'_

' _Anyway'_

' _I'm going to text you my address just in case because I might not be able to pick you up from the airport myself.'_

' _Roomie reminded me that I am currently lacking an arm and it's not recommended that I drive.'_

' _If I finish up in time to pick you up, I will'_

' _So I'll let you know.'_

' _If I can't, just catch a taxi and I'll see you when you get here, loser.'_

* * *

A/N: And that's a wrap!

Once again, thank you all for your time! Your Favorites, follows, and reviews all mean a lot to me. Feedback is always appreciated! You are all lovely.

As noted before, if Chapter 6 is late it's because i'm animating 288 frames of sheer dragon awesomness for my final because i like to make things 500x more difficult than they have to be. There shouldn't be a delay though. I think i'll be fine. I'm already neck deep in the chapter to begin with, but you never know when shit is going to happen.

Also, If you guys want to see the Alabasta and/or Skypeia events, let me know. I might see about including them as bonus chapters once the fic is completed or something. But beyond what was talked about in this chapter, I didn't really see a point in including them in their entirety.

Next Chapter: Look forward to some Sabo and Kid Shenanigans

To Be Continued...


	6. Ch 6: Conspiracy Prt 2

A/N: This week's chapter is a bit shorter than the others. but eh.

Warnings: I said Occasional Bad Language and Eustass Kid is one such occasion. So, this chapter has excessively more bad language than others. some more mentions of minor character death

* * *

 **Chapter Six**

Once he'd stepped off of the plane, Sabo eased his phone out of his pocket to turn it on as he walked throughout the airport. It was a minute before it caught up and buzzed with a new message from Kid. Sabo adjusted the strap of his messenger bag on his shoulder as he tapped open the message. He had to smirk when he saw that it was a picture of Kid's middle finger pointing to a sign above him that marked his location. Sabo glanced at the time mark, glanced at the current time and then back again to confirm that it was sent about ten minutes ago. Sabo had been worried that the time he'd given Kid hadn't been adjusted for time zones, but it appeared that he had had nothing to worry about.

In order to arrange a location, Sabo took a picture of his ticket which marked the baggage claim where he was to collect his suitcase at. A few moments later he got a picture back with the same metal middle finger pointing to a spot on an airport map that marked the nearest exit area and text across it that read "You wont miss me." Sabo eyed the picture a moment longer, spotting the gate he was standing in, the location of the baggage claim he was now walking towards, and the path he would have to take to get from the baggage claim to Kid. He glanced at the message again and smirked. There was no way he could possibly miss Kid's flaming red hair in a crowd to begin with.

Much to Sabo's surprise, apparently he could. Sabo briefly wondered if he had gone the wrong direction as he scanned the sparse crowd for Kid's hair as he approached but instead of hair, something else grabbed his attention. Sabo nearly dropped his suitcase as he faltered in step, eyeing the sign covered in bright, bold letters that was lofted into air. Sabo was half tempted to turn around, get back on a plane, and fly back to Texas but it was too late. He'd been seen.

"Sabo!" He heard Kid call out to him and Sabo faced the sign again. It was poster board with his name written in big, bold, bubbly letters and surrounded by hearts. Above his name was written "Welcome Back!" and below it was "I missed you!" each exclamation mark dotted with hearts. Sabo briefly wondered if Kid had no shame but then remember that Kid just gave no fucks what people thought of him. Sabo reminded himself that he was just have to accept it and started walking towards his friend, eyeing the flesh and metal hands that gripped the sign that completely confirmed that this was indeed the Kid.

"Kid, there you are!" Sabo called out, a smirk making its way onto his lips with a hint of laughter in his words. "I was honestly starting to wonder if I'd gone blind, but you were just hiding behind that sign. Otherwise, there's no way that I could have missed that r—" Sabo halted mid-step once more, mouth hanging open and his words caught in his throat, as the sign slowly lowered itself to first reveal the top half of Kid's face.

"Are you so happy to see my beautiful face again that you're speechless?" Kid asked with a lopsided grin, dropping the sign to his feet. All Sabo could do was ogle Kid's hair as it slowly sunk in.

"Kid!? Is that _really_ you!? Not, like, a mysterious twin brother that I didn't know existed!?" Sabo stuttered, breaking out of his daze but unable to tear his eyes away from _short_ , looked-like-he-just-rolled-out-of-bed _brown_ hair. Brown. Light brown. Not red, brown. Short and Brown. BROWN. WHY WAS IT BROWN!?

"Yeah it's me, assface. Who else? If you keep lookin like that your ugly mug might get stuck like that." Kid smirked, Sabo finally tearing his eyes away from the hair to look at his friend's face as the _brunette_ folded up the poster.

"It's no wonder I couldn't find you! Since when was your hair ever _brown_ " Sabo hissed as he hastily moved to join Kid as the _brunette_ finished folding up the poster and stuffed it into the trashcan. When Kid turned back to look at him again, he was wearing the largest, most-obnoxious, and arrogant smile to ever grace this planet.

"The fucking look on your face. Oh my god. You should have seen it. It was priceless. Fucking priceless." Kid sneered and Sabo shoved his hand into Kid's face in an attempt to physically wipe the smug look off of the bastard's face. Kid laughed and Sabo couldn't help the smile that graced his own lips. It had been too long since the two of them had hung out together in person.

"Anyway, I'm a natural brunette." Kid explained, bringing the conversation back to his hair. "We've been friends for six years and you never found out?"

Sabo shook his head "Either I had no idea or I suppressed the memory. I've never even seen your roots go brown. All I remember is red."

"Either I am god, or you were a terrible friend." Kid snickered "And since you are probably the greatest person to ever barge into my life, I'm going to go with 'I'm a god.'" He smirked, leading Sabo out of the airport.

"I don't think that I des—"

"Sh!" Kid interrupted sharply, knowing where Sabo was going with that statement. "I am where I am today and not dead in a ditch somewhere overdosed on drugs because of you. Accept my gratitude damn it." Kid scowled.

Sabo sighed heavily before nodding and giving a small smile "You're welcome."

Kid bopped him on the head with his, unfortunately, metal hand "That's more like it. Let's get you home."

Kid led Sabo out to his rickety-looking old car in the parking lot that Kid affectionately called the Rust Bucket. Despite the car's outward appearance, Sabo knew that, under the hood, it was in perfect condition. The back door didn't even creak when he opened it and slid his suitcase into the backseat. It was a little messy in the back, but it always had been. Sabo was pretty sure that the empty bottle of Mountain Dew on the floor in the back was probably three years old and probably his. Sabo swung the door closed and then moved to the passenger seat and climbed in, pulling his messenger bag into his lap as he sat down. He was immediately immersed in the familiar smell of metal and motor oil, bringing a nostalgic smile to Sabo's face as Kid got situated in the driver's seat.

The brunette took a second to flex his mechanical fingers before starting the car, the machine humming to life with ease. "I wasn't finished working on my arm by the time seven rolled around so I had to make due with connecting in an old model. Not really adjusted to it yet, but I don't have to be. It is a little stiff though, but that to be expected. It'll be good enough for the drive to Cambridge." Kid informed him. "I told you about how we're working on a patent for this tech, right?"

"I think you mentioned it once," Sabo recalled after a moment of thought. "How's that going?"

"Being a complete and total bitch. There are a lot of stupid laws and shit to work around because I'm a fucking student working through the school's resources now and it's a fucking pain in my ass. Franky, my professor, is doing his best to help me out, but there is only so much that we can do. Not until we can find all of the right loopholes to take advantage of in order for us, rather than the school, to have this patent. Once we get all that figured out, though, we'll be able to start taking steps towards integrating it into the medical field for other people in need of prosthetics. It wouldn't be made out of metal, of course, because that gets to be really heavy, trust me, but the parts can be 3D printed and it's super light and a lot cheaper." Kid rambled enthusiastically, glancing Sabo's way occasionally as he talked continuing on a spiel about the technology and how much further he's developed it now that he has the resources on hand and a proper mentor to help him out.

"Proud of you." Sabo smirked once Kid had finished. "And you thought you couldn't do it."

"And I wouldn't have if you hadn't stepped in and whipped me back into shape." Kid reminded Sabo "Just living up to the promise I made."

"You're going to make a lot of lives better. You know that, right?"

"I know." Kid grinned before his eyes suddenly lit up in remembrance "You should see the arm that I've got back home! Been making some pretty dope modifications to it. Necessary? No. But Franky always says that if you can do it you might as well go all out and do it. What's stopping me, right? Do I need a flamethrower in my arm? No. But do I want one? Yes. Yes I fucking do."

Sabo raised an eyebrow, casting a disapproving look Kid's way "A flamethrower? Seriously? What the hell are you planning on doing with that?"

"It was… just an example. It… it doesn't mean that I was actually going to fucking do it." Kid pouted in a soft voice.

"You were totally going to do it weren't you." Sabo snickered.

"No!" Kid defended. "I was not. I swear. You're right about it though. Having a flamethrower in my arm, while cool, is just as dangerous as it is pointless and unnecessary." Kid sighed in acceptance "So I guess I'm just going to have to stick with the knife mechanism that I'm putting in right now." Kid decided.

"Wait. Knife?" Sabo asked, furrowing his eyebrows critically.

"Yeah, like Assassins Creed. So if anyone ever stops me in an ally I can just stab them and be done with it. Call the cops. Report an attempted robbery. No one fucks with Eustass Kid." The brunette declared.

Right. Brunette. "You know, you never explained the hair, by the way. I've known you since freshman year of high school. How did I not know about this?" Sabo asked, reaching out a hand to feel a lock of the brown hair to make sure that it was real.

Kid laughed and Sabo withdrew his hand "To explain how you never figured it out, I always wore a head band or a bandana or something when my roots started showing."

Oh, well that made a ton of sense as a flash of all the times he's seen Kid with his goggles, a headband, a hat, or a bandana in high school.

"As for why it's no longer red, I've just been really fucking busy juggling school, clubs, projects, and work and I just didn't have the time to maintain that shit anymore. Let's not mention the fact that I go to a super fucking prestigious school now. It's just a whole lot easier to get people to take you seriously when you look a bit more professional, y'know?" Kid glanced at Sabo briefly. "I realized it pretty early on that I wasn't going to have a chance to keep it up so I got my hair cut and then dyed it a brown that I hoped was close to my natural hair color. It had been so fucking long since it was brown, I could hardly remember what it looked like before."

"With it back to it's original color I could spend that time focusing on other things," He continued, "like battle bot tournaments and making _super,_ " odd word to emphasize that way "high tech robots for funzies with the most eccentric man with a cola obsession that I have never know. I swear to god that man is going to fucking find a way to run one of his robots on Cola. He's gonna do it one day, I know he will. I don't know how, but he will. Speaking of robots, does Luffy still have the ones that I made him back in the day?"

"Yeah. He keeps them on the shelf above his bed with the other ones." Sabo answered before what Kid had said just before that was still registering. "Wait. Cola?" Sabo asked, a familiar niggling in his memory insisting that that information was mildly relevant.

"Yeah. Cola. Ridiculous, right? There is nothing in cola that could make it even remotely capable of fueling anything. It's absurd." Kid elaborated.

Cola fuel. Why was that familiar? Sabo let it slide for now, though; he had other things he should be worrying about. Like what his plans were now that he was in Boston. He probably should have thought about that _before_ he booked a flight. He supposed a good place to start would be to get settled and then see about getting into Celestial tomorrow or Tuesday or something. Should he call or just show up? Calling could get him prepared interviews, which could be a good or a bad thing. Just showing up could get him in if he pulled the right strings… Sabo grimaced at that thought. He hated pulling those strings. Who should be talk to? Sabo pondered.

"You're doing that thing with your eyebrows again. What's up?"

"My eyebrows?" Sabo asked, nearly started out of his thoughts, his eyebrows now raised.

"You know what I'm talking about." Kid insisted, turning to look at Sabo for a moment while they were stopped at a red light. Sabo had a flash of a memory from back when Kid used to avoid cars like they were the plague following his crash and he couldn't help the rush of pride he felt at seeing his friend driving.

"So, what exactly are you doing all the way out here in Boston? It's not your shit family is it?" Kid asked, starting to look concerned as the light turned green and he pressed on the gas once more.

Sabo shook his head "Not exactly."

"I remember you saying that you used to be from around here when we got to talking about MIT. And you kept looking over your shoulder as we explored the city once I moved in. Is it bothering you again?"

Sabo shook his head once more. "No, not anymore. I'm here on reporter business, actually. Speaking of, did you hear anything about a John Gremillion?"

"Wow, bro. Are you using me as a source? I don't know if I should be honored or betrayed. But yeah, there was a big impromptu fencing tournament here about a month ago. There was a lot of hype because the greatest swordsman in the world was supposed to be showing up. I heard about it on the radio while I was in the workshop. Leo's been pretty into that stuff lately and there was channel that had been covering it." Kid explained as Sabo dug through his messenger bag for his notepad.

Sabo flipped open the notepad, clicked open his pen, and then scribbled down that the tournament had, indeed, happened. "Where was it held?"

"I'm not sure. You'd have to ask Leo, but it doesn't look like he's home anymore. Ugh, but Apoo still is." Kid groaned as he parked the car at an angle in the driveway next to a second car, front tires resting in a line of gravel along the side. There was obvious space for two other cars that weren't present.

Kid caught Sabo ogling the odd parking arrangement and explained "if you're wondering about it, our schedules are all over the place so this is the only way that we can park without having to move cars around every time someone wanted to leave."

Sabo hummed in thoughtful acknowledgment as shifted his attention and eyed all of the information that he had scribbled down as soon as he had come out of the dive. He then flipped through all of the pages of information that he had scribbled down while he was on the plane. It was all stuff that he had recalled from Alabasta and Skypeia, most of it only recalled thanks to his old articles on the subjects that had helped him jog his memory.

"Earth to Sabo. We're still in the car. Let's head inside." Kid urged, bonking Sabo on the head with his, thankfully, flesh hand.

Sabo snapped back into focus and closed his notepad, slipping it back into his messenger bag. "Right. Sorry about that."

Kid opened his door and stepped outside with a groan. "Just because he's the only one in the house doesn't mean that no one can HEAR HIS FUCKING MUSIC." Kid complained, his voice escalating in volume and anger the further in the statement that he got. When Sabo opened his door and stepped out as well, he understood. Sabo could almost feel the bass vibrating in his gut. Kid slammed his car door shut, briefly apologized to his car, and then stormed towards the house.

Sabo shouldered his messenger bag as Kid threw open the front door of the house yelling "TURN DOWN YOUR FUCKING MUSIC I CAN HEAR IT FROM THE STREET."

Sabo pulled his suitcase out of the backseat before following Kid into the house. The front door had been left wide open for him after the engineer had stormed inside to seek out his housemate. Sabo squinted his eyes, cringing slightly as if that would somehow ease the assault on his ears as he shut the door behind him to save the neighborhood from the blunt force of it.

Setting down his suitcase, Sabo made an attempt to locate his friend. He wasn't hard to find if the "HOW ARE YOU NOT DEAF!?" was a good enough hint towards his location. The music finally began to tone itself down before disappearing all together and Kid emerged huffing from a room at the end of the hallway to Sabo's right. "Sorry about that." Kid apologized as he ran a hand through his hair and joined Sabo by the door. "He's put on headphones now."

"I'm sensing some hostility?" Sabo assumed.

"We put up with each other." Kid allowed with a grimace "But because we _do_ live together and we _do_ work together sometimes, we manage to make it work. He's in Computer Science or something, so he helps up out with the AI for our robots from time to time. I can only build the damn things, so he's the one that makes them work. He DJs for a living, though, and I don't agree with his music tastes at all. I could do without the dubstep. I could deal with the chiptune you listen to, how could anyone not? But dubstep? It sounds like a fucking cat that's been run over by a lawnmower to me. No thank you."

Sabo grimaced at the visual. That was certainly one way to put it. He didn't _personally_ have anything against the music, but he supposed that living with it like Kid was would change his opinion of it real fast.

"Now allow me to show you to the master suit." Kid declared as he turned on his heel and led Sabo through the archway before them and into the living room. "Short Walk. There's your bed." Kid said, gesturing to the couch.

Sabo was surprised to find that the room was clean and orderly, _too_ orderly. Sabo noticed as he eyed the TV stand and the perfect balance of DVD and game cases on their racks and the almost awe inspiring exactness of everything in the room in general. Someone in this house had OCD and Sabo knew that it wasn't Kid. Even the wires that were hooked up to the TV were organized and untangled, anchored rather then feeling resting wherever the wires had landed after being plugged in. "Why is everything so orderly. I feel like if I might breath I'll upset the balance in this room."

"The wires are Apoo because he worked in IT while in high school. He hates it when things get tangled up. The rest of it is the fourth housemate, Hawkins. I swear to god, watching him spend fucking five minutes asking Leo and Apoo to shift the stand left and right until it was centered on the wall even _after_ I had already said fuck it I'm not helping anymore, was one of the most painful things that I have ever lived through in my life and that's including loosing my arm in that car accident." Kid agonized, holding up his metal arm and shaking it for emphasis. "My room and my workshop are total train wrecks. The chaos is almost therapeutic so don't you worry."

"That bad?" Sabo raised his eyebrows in surprise.

"Yeah. That bad." Kid affirmed. "Hawkins is a mathematician or something I guess." Kid explained. "He studies probability and statistics. It's boring as fuck. You'd think he'd know that the natural order of things is to tend towards entropy but he will try his damndest to make sure it does not. And don't even get me started." Kid paused, pointing a finger at Sabo. "Don't even get me started on his fortune telling tarot card bullshit. The guy is superstitious as fuck, too." Kid took a glance around the room before leaning closer to Sabo for dramatic effect, his voice dropping down to a whisper "Walking into his room is like entering a Satanist shrine. Don't ever go in there. I think it's fucking cursed."

Sabo slowly turned his head towards Kid, eyes narrowing in disbelief and major concern for his friend's mental wellbeing. Kid stood up straight once more, nodding as if he'd just revealed the greatest conspiracy theory known to man and he'd just blown Sabo's mind with the information. "Believe me. You will understand when you meet him."

Sabo nodded slowly, letting his concern show deeply etched into his facial features. Sabo was entirely unconvinced. There was no way in hell.

"If I could show you I could, but he keeps his door locked!" Kid defended. "I've only ever caught a glimpse of it once and the look he gave when as he slowly closed the door between us make me convinced that he might try and stab me in my sleep for seeing what was inside. I can't sleep without my door and windows locked anymore. I think he might be a serial killer." Kid tried to convince Sabo.

"Aaand you're making me sleep on the couch." Sabo narrowed his eyes.

"Yes. Yes I am. That way if he goes fucking bat shit crazy he can kill you before he gets to me." Kid stated with a straight face.

Sabo stared back.

Kid smirked and Sabo pushed his hand into Kid's face and shoved him to the side, "You are an asshole."

Kid snorted, "Of course I am, but at least I'm honest about it" he snickered, pulling Sabo's hand away from his face. "Anyway. There are no guarantees that my roommates wont steal your shit, so drop it off in my room and I'll show you to the workshop."

* * *

Sabo lounged on the couch, shoulders propped up against the armrest with a blanket, his laptop resting on his thighs and a can of mountain dew sitting on the side table behind him. He drummed his fingers on the space next to his touch pad in thought, a glance at the clock on his laptop display read that it was nearly two in the morning now. He turned his attention to the notepad propped up against the back of the couch and hesitated a moment before picking it up, flipping through the pages to find the one that contained all of the contact information he gathered that night. he made a mental note to buy tabs or sticky notes to use to mark the pages in his notes. He scribbled down the names, addresses, and contact information for various people that he might consider contacting. The place that had hosted the fencing tournament in June, the name of the officer that Zoro recalled having contacted him, Celestial Headquarters' address, and the number for the organization that had put together the tournament were among the things on the list.

Sabo sighed and set the notepad down before letting his head drop back, nearly knocking his mountain dew off of the side table in the process. He snapped into a sitting position and twisted around to make sure that the can hadn't fallen over before he picked it up, took a sip, and then set it back down more out of the way. Sabo settled back down, letting his head fall back once more as stared up at the ceiling with a frown. He wasn't official press so how in the hell did he plan on getting any of this information in the first place. What the hell was he thinking? What the hell was he supposed to do? Sabo sighed heavily.

"So you _are_ still awake." Kid stated, interrupting Sabo's train of thought.

"Yeah." Sabo sighed, tapping his laptop awake and punching in his password again.

"Why haven't you set the back of the couch back yet? Can't figure it out and need some help?" Kid asked, turning on the floor lamp by Sabo's feet and revealing his smirk.

"Nah. Just… haven't gotten around to it yet." Sabo frowned.

Kid circled around to the front of the couch, picking up Sabo's legs by the ankles and then sitting himself down on the couch in their place and letting Sabo's legs rest across his lap. "So, are you going to explain to me what's been bothering you?" he asked, shifting his position and resting an elbow on the back of the futon.

"Well…"Sabo began, sitting up and shifting back until his back rested against the arm rest. Sabo had no idea where to even start and what all information he should even reveal about the situation so he decided to start vague. "I've started up a bit of an investigation."

Kid nodded in acknowledgment.

"You know that I write for the News Coo, right?" Sabo asked for verification.

"Yeah, of course. I read all of your articles." Kid confirmed.

"I'm concerned about whether or not I can use that as an angle in order to get me some insider information about the Special Events that have been going on in One Piece."

"Oh, yeah? Those have been wicked!" Kid grinned "My crew and I went and took on Alabasta with the old Summit City gang. I heard about how Luffy was the one to beat Skypeia. Props to him, man. Totally looking forward to Thriller Bark. I've been camped out on Sabaody for the last few days waiting for it to open up. That's this Wednesday, right?"

Sabo nodded. "Yeah."

"But wait. What does that have anything to do with what's-his-face? The guy you asked about in the car and talked to Leo about at dinner?" Kid caught on.

"You know the Mihawk event, right?" Sabo asked as he quickly pulled up pictures of John Gremillion and Mihawk as they talked.

"Yeah. I know of it."

"Do you know what Mihawk looks like?"

Kid shook his head. "Nope."

"Well." Sabo drifted off as he turned his laptop around, letting the pictures do the talking. "This one is Mihawk, and this one is John Gremillion." He informed Kid, pointing to their respective pictures.

"They look exactly the same. Makes sense. You said the same about Crocodile, right? What's so important about it?"

"Leo said that John never showed up at the Boston tournament." Sabo stated as he turned his laptop back around and closed the lid.

"Right, so?"

"That's because he was supposedly found dead on the first day of the tournament." Sabo revealed.

"Wait what? That doesn't make sense. You'd think that something like that would make big news. Probably go national. Probably go worldwide, actually. I mean. He's the greatest swordsman in the world, you'd think there would be a blip about it _somewhere_." Kid frowned and narrowed his eyes "How did _you_ find out?"

"His son is on Luffy's crew." Sabo elaborated.

"Small world." Kid said under his breath.

"Franky!" Sabo face palmed, coming to a sudden realization now that he was thinking about his brother's crew.

"What?"

"It's been bugging me all day. God. Luffy's shipwright. His name was Franky. Their ship is powered on Cola! Your professor is friends with my brother!"

"So a _very_ small fucking world then." Kid revised.

"Anyway." Sabo said, waving his hand to dismiss that tangent. "I did a lot of digging on the subject, even reached back out to him to ask him where he'd seen some of the blips in the news, but when I searched for them I came up completely empty. Even his Wikipedia page said that he was still alive and the guy is getting a little bit more than frustrated about this all over again."

"So what does this all have to do with anything exactly? Other than what's starting to sound like a fishy cover-up?"

"Well. This is where it starts to sound like even more of a fishy cover-up." Sabo frowned. "He said that everything about Mihawk emulated his father to a suspiciously accurate degree. A degree that would be impossible to program. A degree that suggests that Mihawk is John and that Mihawk is not an AI at all, but that's impossible if John is supposedly dead. It's been a month since the tournament after all and neither him nor his sister has heard anything."

"So what does any of this say about Crocodile and Eneru?"

"You make an excellence point. A point that I intend to find the answer to."

"And that's why you're here?"

Sabo nodded. "Celestial is down the road from here and I want to take a look around."

"You aren't planning on doing anything illegal are you?" Kid warned.

"I don't plan on it." Sabo assured.

"So you're saying that if you just so happen to do something illegal in the spur of the moment it's not because you planned to." Kid accused, eyes narrowed in suspicion "Normally I'm all for breaking the rules, but this sounds dangerous. People are potentially dead because of this."

Sabo pursed his lips, taking a moment to think things through before saying "it's because there are people potentially dead because of this that it needs to be done."

"Sabo. This is the Celestial Dragons you are talking about. No one touches Celestial or their Dragons. Even if you do find something out it'll probably be impossible to take them down for it. No one has ever beaten them in court. Everyone is a sellout to the beast, Sabo. What are you even planning to do with the information you find if you find anything at all?" Kid hissed, an edge of concern making it into his voice.

Sabo sighed, rubbing his face with both hands "I don't know, but I have to try. I'm sure I'll figure something out on the way."

"I know you will, Sabo. I know personally how persistent you are, but saving a drowning soul and getting some dirt on Celestial are two completely different beasts. So please, if you're going to do this and I know you are, just… promise me you'll be careful, Sabo, because when you play with dragons, you might get burned."

* * *

A/N: And that's a wrap. It brings be great joy that we have _finally_ reached the line that half inspired the title of this fic.

Finals is getting in the way of my release schedule because I only have three weeks left in the semester. My head is buzzing too much with the content for the next chapter to put it off, but i'm forcing that one to definitely be a week late for posting so that I don't spend my usual full day rewriting and revising the entire chapter before i post it that evening. Need that time for other things, obviously lqtm. So, I'll see you all again in May with a new chapter for you all! :D

And to everyone else as well, I thank you for your favorites, follows, and reviews! Really means a lot!

Next Chapter: The plot thickens.


	7. Ch 7: Conspiracy Prt 3

A/N: Ahhh! I'm so so x1000 sorry that this took me a week longer than I promised! At the end of finals week last week I'd only had a page and a half of this chapter written ;-; and I felt terrible. I apparently didn't have as much time as I thought I would, but I finally finished it today and I hope this extra long chapter makes up for the wait!

Warnings: Panic attack?

Without further ado:

* * *

 **Chapter Seven**

"I'm trusting you with my baby, so you better take good care of her, okay?" Kid warned, keys dangling from his outstretched had as he offered them to Sabo in the parking lot of Kid's workplace.

"Not a scratch." Sabo promised him as he reached out to take the keys from him, only for the brunette to pull his hand away. Sabo retracted his hand and raised a questioning eyebrow at his friend.

"Promise me you wont do anything stupid, okay?" The mechanic frowned.

Sabo pursed his lips, hesitating a moment before nodding "I promise."

Kid's maroon-brown eyes bore into Sabo, narrowed slightly. Sabo know that he was judging Sabo's honestly and resolve with that look. The brunette exhaled softly in resignation, holding the keys out to Sabo once more and letting Sabo take them from him, "Make sure you're back here by six to pick me up form work, got it?"

"Got it." Sabo accepted, gripping the keys in the palm of his hand "I'll see you later then, Useless."

"Later, Sabotage." Kid smiled as he gave a short wave headed inside the shop, leaving Sabo standing alone in the parking lot.

Sabo turned to the rusty looking car next to him and took a deep breath, "Okay, so when was the last time I drove a car?" he asked himself, bouncing the keys in his hand as he pulled open the diver's side door. "Was it when I got my license?" Sabo wondered as he stepped one foot in, "Nah had to be sooner than that," he amended as he climbed fully into the car. "Shanks let me drive his car a few times… right?" Sabo mused optimistically as he shut the door and eyed the car's dash. "Diving is like riding a bike. You never forget how once you learn," Sabo assured himself as he looked for the ignition in which to fit the car's key. He shoved it in and turned the key until the car purred to life. Sabo unlocked his phone and double-checked that the navigational app was still open and that Celestial's Headquarters was still the destination before pressing 'start navigation' and placing his phone in the cup holder. He gripped the steering wheel with both hands and huffed "I mean, it's not like it's been four years since the last time I drove a car or anything," he whispered, still optimistic as he put the car into drive and ignored the directions from his phone in favor of circling around the parking lot to get re-acquainted with driving.

Once Sabo was confident he could navigate Boston's winding streets without much of a problem, he took a deep breath and started to chant "not a scratch" under his breath as he approached the exit of the parking lot. His phone chimed in with the first of his directions and Sabo exhaled deeply "I got this. No scratches."

It took Sabo nearly an hour to get to Celestial's headquarters, which turned out to consist of not one, but a small village's worth of buildings. It was also a lot easier to get into than he had anticipated. They apparently just let people show up and there wasn't even a gate or anything screening anyone passing through. He was able to just drive in and park his car in the crowded parking lot. Sabo picked up his phone and placed a pin on the digital map to mark where he had parked the car so that he didn't lose it and then climbed out of the car, dragging his messenger bag out of the passenger seat with him. Once he shut the door he locked the car, shouldered his bag, and then started walking.

It was hard to miss the colossal dragon skeleton that appeared to be guarding the front doors of what Sabo assumed was the main building. The dragon was even wearing a modified version of the Dragon headset over it's eyes (which was a really neat touch if he did say so himself). The gnome statues littering the entire closed off area and crawling all over the skeleton were, however, quite perplexing. Sabo would never admit to himself that he thought it was one of the greatest things he'd ever seen, and he definitely did not take a detour to walk about the entire display to stare at it for ten minutes before taking a picture and sending it to both Ace and Luffy. Tearing his eyes away from the Dragon, Sabo turned to the wide automatic glass doors standing behind it. He almost wished that he had brought someone – anyone – with him in order to share in the experience of visiting a place like this, but oh well.

Sabo made his way inside and found himself standing in a wide open entry hall with a view all the way up through the top floors and out the domed glass ceiling. The floors were all white tiled with Celestial's red, hoof-print logo marking a large portion of the floor inside the doorway. And… was that a hologram projector? Holograms were legit? And not only that was it… Sabo's jaw dropped as he stared at the table in the distance with a holographic display of the world of One Piece, rotating slowly on an axis. Sabo made an immediate beeline for the display to get a better look at it.

So it was a hologram in all sense of the word, it was just that it was encased in a glass box that filled with smoke onto which an image was projected, but it was still really cool. He'd never seen something like it in person before, only in videos and on a much smaller scale. As he neared, it had also become obvious to Sabo that, not only was the projection a representation of the globe of the virtual world, it also marked the locations of ships and crews across the seas in real time. They were just small dots of various colors, all of them drifting across the great expanse of virtual ocean. It was almost humbling to see just how big the world of One Piece was and to think that Sabo had only seen a portion of it. Sabo turned his gaze to what appeared to be a control panel next to the globe and wondered what all it could do.

"You must be a visitor!" a voice said from near his shoulder, causing Sabo to nearly jump out of his skin in surprise. "Oops, Sorry about that!" the voice apologized as Sabo turned to look at it's owner "I didn't mean to startle you." The boy standing behind him continued to apologize.

"It's no problem." Sabo assured him as he took in the appearance of the teenage standing behind him. Wow. Teenager. Sabo felt old calling someone a teenager. Sabo himself had been a teenager not all that long ago, what the hell was he thinking calling someone a teenager. "But yeah, I am indeed a visitor." Sabo confirmed, turning to fully face the guy who was probably a foot shorter than Sabo if Sabo was honest with him, had messy blonde hair, was super scrawny, and probably still had a little bit of baby fat left to lose on the face.

"Do you have an appointment?" the guy asked.

Sabo shook his head. "Nope. No appointment. I was just in the area and thought that I'd come and have a look around. I've always wanted to check this place out."

"Ah! You'd be surprised how many people come here saying exactly that! Is there anything in particular that you'd like to see? Anything you're looking for? We don't offer tours to people who don't have someone working on the inside. I just work the front desk here, but I can still direct you where you'd like to go and offer suggestions." The guy offered.

"I don't even know where to begin," Sabo admitted, running a hand through his hair, "This place is huge and I have no idea what all is even here."

"Let me get a map real quick!" the guy offered, turning and jogging back towards the circular desk in the middle of the hall near where the top of the hoof print ended. He scrambled to reach over the barrier to get to a folder on the other side. Sabo followed him to the desk and was about to offer him some help when the guy let out a sound of triumph and dropped back down to the ground with a pamphlet in his hands.

"Got it?" Sabo asked, flashing him a smile.

"Yup! Got it." The boy huffed, slightly out of breath. "My name's Coby, by the way. If you need any help just call the number on the back of the map and it'll connect you right to the front desk."

"Sabo." He revealed out of courtesy, holding his hand out for the map and was mildly surprised when Coby instead shook his hand, slightly awkwardly Sabo might add, before realizing that what Sabo had wanted was the Map.

"Oh. Right. Sorry. Map." Coby stumbled over his words, replacing his hand with the map and patting it awkwardly. "Here you go." Coby withdrew his hands. "Enjoy your visit."

Sabo nodded. "I will." He assured, turning away from the front desk in order to survey the floor once more, his eyes finally settling on the map of the facilities. "Oh, Coby. While I'm here."

"Yes?" Coby piped up in interest.

"I am actually interested in setting up an appointment or two. It's rather last second, but I write for the News Coo and I'm going to be in town till Sunday." Sabo mentioned as he turned halfway to glance at Coby, who was in the middle of climbing back over the circular front desk. There had to be an easier way to go about that.

Coby paused with one leg over the edge and the other dangling several inches off of the ground "You write for the News Coo? What's your username so that I can verify?" Coby asked before scrambling the rest of the way over the desk. Again, there had to be an easier way to go about that. Coby turned to the glass panel next to him and it lit up to reveal that it was, actually, a computer screen. What the hell was this place, the future? "Username." Coby restated, breaking Sabo out of his reverie.

"Oh, dragonlord23," Sabo informed him, "And that's lowercase."

A moment's pause with some tapping on a projected keyboard on the desk and Coby nodded in confirmation "Alright, well, I'm required to ask you what your business is and who you'll want to talk to."

"Special events and whoever I can talk to in order find out more about them because I think that they are amazing and I'd love to know who's behind it all. I'm sure the readers would like that as well. I'd also like to get some insight into the AI and how they came up with everything." Sabo confessed.

"I know, right!?" Coby practically squealed. "I've wanted to work here ever since they announced One Piece as a project. I've been doing everything that I can since then to learn how to do the things that they do here. I've been learning how to code and I know several different programming languages by now and it's all really fascinating. There are even people here who have agreed to help tutor me and it's awesome. Now I actually work here, but yeah it is just the front desk, but now I've got my foot in the door, right? Maybe once I graduate college they'll actually give me a job working with the tech." Coby sighed dreamily "my dream job has always been to work for Celestial. This place is tech heaven."

"I can see that." Sabo agreed, glancing around the floor at all of the neat gadgets on display but also getting slightly impatient.

"Oh! Right. sorry. Got on a tangent again. Whoops! I'll make a phone call for you. It's unfortunate that the spearhead of the system is gone now. Jon Swasey. Otherwise I'd see about getting you in to talk to him. Apparently after he retired he went on vacation to, like, Europe. Otherwise I'd see about getting you an interview with him outside of work."

"Where in Europe?" Sabo asked curiously.

"All of it." Coby admitted.

Sabo raised both of his eyebrows in surprise. "Long trip then." Sabo mused.

"Very." Coby agreed. "Show me your map." Coby asked, holding out a hand for the pamphlet and Sabo handed it over. The other blonde pulled a sharpie out of a drawer and removed the cap with his teeth before circling a couple buildings, writing down some numbers, marking a few other places on the map, and underlining some places on the key along the side of the map that named the numbered locations on the map. "So I circled the places where you'll find the people you'll be looking for. I'll call ahead for you so you can just walk in and introduce yourself and you'll he directed to where you need to go. They usually don't mind impromptu talks so you should be fine. If not then you can set up appointment with them. It _is_ a busy time with Thriller Bark opening up on Wednesday so things are a bit hectic. You never know, though. Since I cant get you an actual guided tour, I also marked some of the places on the map that you might want to check out. Pretty cool areas and some nice One Piece related tech and displays. As long as you don't go anywhere you aren't supposed to you should be fine."

"Alright. Thank you." Sabo nodded, smiling gratefully. "You have been a great help."

"You're welcome! Enjoy your visit. I hope you find what you need." Coby grinned.

"Same." Sabo agreed as he stepped away from the front desk, his feet pulling him back to the holographic world map for another look. He took out his phone and recorded a short video of it as it rotated. The bounty hunters would have a heyday with this that map, Sabo mused. He poked at the display in front of him and selected the area of the map that displayed the Florian Triangle out of curiosity. He had to whistle softly to himself at the numbers. There were a lot of crews in the area waiting for the opening of the event and to be the first crew to successfully take it down.

Tearing his eyes away from the map once more, Sabo turned and headed back out the front doors and into the courtyard with the Dragon and all of it's gnome friends. He glanced at the map in his hands and determined where he was going to go first before folding it back up and tucking it into the front pocket of his messenger bag. He unzipped the bag and pulled out his notepad and flipped through the pages until he found his contact list. He turned to his phone and ignored the text messages he had received from Luffy in favor of punching in his desired number and pressing he call button. He slid his notepad into the front pocket with the map as he pressed his cellphone to his ear and began walking to his next destination.

It picked up on the third ring with a tentative "Hello?"

"Is this Officer Tashigi?" Sabo inquired.

"Ah, yes. This is she." Still tentative.

"My name is Sabo Mongas, I'm a reporter. I'm currently looking for some information and was hoping that you might be willing to schedule an interview with me."

There was a long awkward pause and Sabo had to pull the phone away from his ear to check that the call was still connected before pressing the phone back to his ear and glancing around.

"I'm sorry, but I'm no longer an officer. I don't think I'm the one you want to be talking to."

Sabo raised an eyebrow, well that was curious. "The event in question happened about a month ago and my source assured me that you were the one to talk to." Sabo insisted.

Another long pause and then an audible exhale through the nose. "Are you on a cellphone?"

"Yes?" Sabo confirmed curiously.

"What's your location?"

"I'm in Boston until Saturday."

Another pause "I'll text your number a meeting place and negotiate a time. We can talk then and I'll decide if you'll get your interview." Tashigi allowed. "See you then, Mr. Mongas." And then the line went dead.

Sabo stopped walking and pulled the phone away from his ear, watching as the time for the call continued to tick before his phone hung up automatically. What was all of that about? Sabo hadn't even mentioned what kind of information he was looking for, but he felt she had a pretty good idea about what he was hinting towards. And what was that about her not being an officer anymore? What brought that on?

Sabo exchanged his phone for his notepad and stuck the end of his pen between his teeth as he thought about the last two conversations he'd had. Was there anything significant in his conversation with Coby worth noting down? Right. Jon Swasey. Vacation. Sabo pulled his pen from his teeth and scribbled that down on a page in the Crocodile section of his notes before flipping to the Mihawk Section and writing down the word 'Meet' with a blank after it for a place to write it once it was decided. He pulled the map from his bag and looked at the number on the back of the pamphlet and scribbled down the number for the front desk on his contact list with Coby's name next to it. He shoved the map back into his bag and then flipped back to his notes on Crocodile and tapped his pen on his chin for a moment. He wondered if he should consider contacting any possible family Swasey might have. He decided no and snapped the notepad shut without writing anything down, stuffing it back into his bag as well.

"Need any help?" a voice interrupted Sabo's thought process and Sabo's head snapped up to eye the man – a security guard if the helmet, outfit, and elaborate Segway were any clues – before him.

"Nah. Sorry." Sabo shook his head. "I was just on my way somewhere when I was struck with a new idea. I'm a writer, you see? And when you get new ideas you kinda just have to stop everything that you're doing and write it all down before you forget about them, you know? Today I just happened to be standing here on the sidewalk." Sabo explained in a little white lie. He was a writer and he did make a habit of writing down his ideas the moment that they came to him, but that hadn't exactly been what he was doing at that moment. But in a way, it kinda was.

"Alright then. If you don't need anything I'll be on my way. Enjoy your visit! If you do end up needing anything just ask!" the security guard saluted with a smile and then leaned, urging the Segway into motion, heading off in the direction that Sabo had just come from.

Sabo clicked his pen and then dropped it back into his bag before resuming his walk.

There were a lot of sights to see at Celestial's headquarters. One of the buildings that Coby had marked for him to visit even had a massive wall that displayed the real time ranking of players within the One Piece world. Sabo had to frown at his own position that was about a dozen places beneath Ace's now. It was funny how Sabo didn't care about his rank until he'd learned that he was above Ace and even more so now that he was so far beneath his brother. The distance was a lot smaller than it had been immediately following Skypeia, but it was still more than enough for Ace to rub in his face at every opportunity. Ace would be marching to a very different tune had he been in Skypeia as well. Besides, it was hard to re-climb the ranks when you were as high up as they were. Increasing stats got hard and everyone was so close in numbers.

The neighboring wall broke the ranking into different categories such as pirates, bounty hunters, and marines as well as Pirate Crews, and Alliances and cycled through them all at a pretty steady pace. Sabo had been surprised to see that the Straw Hat Pirates were among the top fifty pirate crews in the whole game, especially consider how small and new that the crew was. It spoke great volumes for the quality of player each of his brother's crewmates were. He wondered how long some of them had been playing before Luffy picked them up.

On the other hand, seeing the Whitebeard Pirates occupying the number one spot on the rankings had come as no surprise to Sabo, especially considering the combination of both size and power that the Whitebeard Pirate Crew possessed. They were nothing like the Krieg pirates from the early days of the game, though. Kreig's men had been large but unskilled, intimidating by sheer numbers alone. They'd had a grip on the East Blue until Sabo, along side a handful of other players, had taken them out in a single sweep for terrorizing the new players. That was when he'd met Koala. It was bizarre to think how long ago it was and yet still still relatively recent. he felt like he'd known Koala a lot longer than that.

The second place he'd visited on his way to the building that housed the AI division was actually a memorial to one of the biggest battles that had ever, to date, taken place in One Piece. It was a massive territory scuffle fought in the New World between two of the world powers: The Whitebeard Pirates and The Hundred Beasts. It was a war that had escalated even further when the Marines were forced to get involved. They had joined in order to protect all of the players that had nothing to do with it who were getting tangled up in the mess of fighting that was taking place. The monument to the event was a simple marble slab that had been engraved with the names of the ships that had been sunk during the battle as well as the usernames of all of the players who had "died" while fighting in the three-day war. Some three thousand players had been involved in the fighting and a good fifty warships had been sunk during sea combat. The Whitebeard's victory had been what shot the crew up to the top of the leaderboards, dropping the All-Zoan type crew down into the twenties before they steadily climbed their way back up the rankings, claiming a spot in second place by the time the Alabasta Event had opened.

After lingering for a time, Sabo decided that it was time to head to the building Coby had marked on the map before it was too late in the afternoon. It had never really sunk in until his visit that Celestial did so much more than just full-dive virtual reality technology. They'd bought many companies throughout the years and invested in a lot of different kinds of research and the names labeling all of the buildings really solidified that. Sabo had even forgotten that Celestial owned the company that had created the world's most used internet browser (Sabo had made a quick detour there too watch the live feed of the things people were searching for at that moment before continuing on his way) and they had their hand in about every single field of science and technology Sabo could think of.

Of course Sabo took pictures of everything. He was no profession photographer like Koala, but he still made an effort to take photos over everything cool that he came across in order to include the images in the article about Celestial Headquarters that he planned to write in order to further justify his visit. Sabo was still surprised at the quality of the cameras in phones now and how there was no longer any real need to get a professional camera. As long as his photos got their point across, that was all that was important Sabo decided as he slipped his phone back into his bag with all six of his unread messages.

Having finally located the correct building, Sabo pushed open the door and stepped into the lobby. He was immediately greeted by a glass panel standing in the middle of the lobby. It was projecting the image of a red cartoony dragon that Sabo quickly recognized as one of Celestial's old mascots. He was the main character of a game franchise from Celestial's early days in game making. Sabo couldn't remember his name, though. "My name is Aidan and I'm here to welcome you to Outlook Labs!"

Sabo tuned out the rest of what Aidan said following Outlook Labs, his steps faltering at the name. Outlook? Oh god. Please no. Please, please, please times one thousand please don't let it be the Outlook Sabo was thinking it was. His dad didn't have a finger in AI research and whatever else was in this building, did he? What was his dad's company called again? What did they even do? Was this just his money that put his name on the building or was it his? Sabo hoped it wasn't his. Sabo didn't remember anything about technology when he was a kid. Oh god. Maybe he should have paid attention to this stuff. Ah no fuck that. He didn't give a shit about his dad's company. This was okay. He was cool. He could walk into a building called Outlook and remain calm. This wasn't getting to him at all. Nope. Not at all.

"Need help?" a voice asked for, what, the third time today? And Sabo realized that this time it was the Dragon speaking. Aidan wasn't just a showcase, he was legitimately an AI to greet visitors to the lab.

"I was directed here by a Coby?" Sabo offered tentatively, hoping that he had recalled the guy's name correctly.

"You must be Sabo then!" The AI chimed cheerfully with a slightly robotic voice, hardly noticeable to untrained ears but the fabricated enthusiasm made it obvious. "Head on up to the third floor, there will be someone there to greet you." The dragon informed him before the glass screen upon which his image had been projected went dark, leaving Sabo to fend for himself in the wide lobby he hadn't noticed while he was focused on the AI.

This building seemed to have a more industrial-but-modern feel to it. There were a lot of hard edges and gunmetal greys with blocky furniture – red to contrast the dark greys. It wasn't a large lobby like the main building had been. It was actually quite modest compared to the other buildings that Sabo had visited today.

Sabo finished turning in a circle to scan to walls for the elevator or stairs before finally spotting it to his right and near the back of the lobby and made his way towards it. His eyes lingered on the piles of magazines sitting on the tables of the lobby on the way to the elevator, but none of them caught his attention as he passed. He directed his attention back to the area in front of him as he approached the elevator and he hit the up button before stepping back to wait. He stood their awkwardly waiting for the elevator to arrive for what felt like three minutes (but couldn't have been more than thirty seconds) before the doors slid open with a ding. "Third floor" Sabo mumbled to himself as he eyed the buttons on the control panel. So there were only four floors in total, Sabo noted as he pushed the button to the third floor. He resisted the temptation to explore all of the other floors on the way up and wondered if that would fall into the category of things Kid would consider stupid of him or if it was in line with Coby's places he shouldn't go.

Another soft ding signaled his arrival on the third floor and he stepped out of the elevator and into another small lobby area and glanced around.

"Hi! You must be Sabo." Greeted a woman with big round glasses and long hair dyed a lime green.

"That I am." Sabo confirmed, hands drifting up to grip the strap of his messenger bag out of habit.

"My name's Monet. I work here. I'm one of the new department heads now that Jon's retired. His presence is far from gone though, he made sure of that." Monet sighed, sounding slightly fed up. "Even when he's gone he's still our boss." Monet scowled before smirking "Let's head to my station," she offered, gesturing for Sabo to follow her as she started down the hallway that was behind her. Sabo wondered what she's meant by that as he followed.

"We do a lot of AI research in this building and not just for One Piece. This side of the floor, however, does specialize in managing the NPCs of the game and monitoring the special events. We search for irregularities in the AI and make sure nothing _too_ dystopian is happening." Monet informed him, glancing over her shoulder at him. "On the other side of the floor they develop and improve upon the AI for both One Piece and all other products that require it from Celestial." She continued, coming to a stop at a station on the open floor plan. The office area sported an array of six computer screens, each of which displayed various types of information that mostly went straight over Sabo's head.

Sabo pulled out his phone and unlocked it "You don't mind if I record our talk, do you?" He asked, thumb hovering over the icon for the voice recording app he had.

"Ooo a professional." Monet practically purred, "And here I was thinking that you were some two-bit wannabe writing for a fake virtual paper." Monet smirked, settling down in her chair and looking up at him through narrowed eyes. "I knew you were far too attractive to be in fake news forever. Going to go into the actual business one day? Gonna… stop writing so-called articles that so-called journalists do an internet search to find information for and actually go out an get the information for yourself?"

Sabo was caught completely off guard by her comments. He didn't know whether to be offended, flattered, angry, or upset by her words. Judging by the amusement dancing in her eyes, he could imagine that his confusion was clearly written on his face and she'd done it on purpose. Schooling his expression once more, Sabo chose not to decide how to feel and just concluded, "So I take it that you don't think writing for the News Coo counts as real journalism."

"Handsome _and_ smart." Monet mused, her voice teetering on the edge of laughter.

"I am majoring in journalism and hope to get into investigative journalism in the future." Sabo informed her.

"Good for you," Monet chided, "So shall we get started?"

Sabo resisted the urge to roll his eyes as he re-unlocked his phone and then tapped the record button. He set the phone face down on the desk and sat in the second chair that Monet gestured for him to take. "So, what's the process for putting together these special events?"

Monet's expression returned to one of complete professionalism, posture straightening as she began, "It usually starts with the location. We start by deciding what kind of place we want the event to take place on. With Crocodile it was a little different since that was entirely of Jon's design. Crocodile had originally been his in-game avatar and since he'd possessed the Sand Sand fruit he found it suitable for the event to take place in Alabasta, but otherwise we've generally started with the location and moved from there onto the story and the enemies and the kind of boss that we'd like to present to the players. We do all of this several months in advance and the AI for the boss is the first part of the production process. A lot of the code that we used for the AI can be duplicated from the original and all that we have to do is change the code for the personality and morals and such. It's a lot more difficult then it sounds but could be worse. We actually have an island in game that is off limits to players where we test out the AI." Monet explained. "The original code was made by Jon and he left knowing that we could just use the original and be okay with very little need for emergency calls asking for help. His research notes were also very thorough, but even so… he couldn't resist leaving something behind to dictate us even after he was gone." Monet finished with a slight scowl.

The computer screen closest to Sabo came to life, "It's rude to talk about your superiors like that," an annoyed, gravely voice scolded from the speakers. Sabo glanced at the screen and immediately recognized the face of Crocodile shifting into view.

"W-wait, what?" Sabo stuttered in surprise.

"Who's the kid and what the hell's he doing in my lab?" Crocodile scowled.

"Are you telling me that Crocodile _is_ Jon Swasey? Is he, like, talking to us from Europe or wherever the hell he is?"

"No, actually." A new voice intruded from behind Sabo and Sabo had to crane his neck to take in the sight of the punk-looking guy behind him. He was holding onto a couple of cups that appeared to be full of coffee. "That's jus' Crocodile the AI, straight outta the special event, but not at d'same time. He's got a lot more bells n' whistles then ol' Croc. He's pretty much jus' Jon 2.0. Jon left 'im behind for us so 'e could nag us even after he was gone." The man informed him, taking a sip of one of the coffees before offering the other to Monet. Sabo could hardly take his eye off the septum piercing in the guy's nose or the spiky green hair he was sporting. Was green a theme?

"Thank you, Barto. It's about time you got back." Money sighed happily, taking the cup in both of her hands and taking a long whiff before sipping at the hot liquid. The wafting scent as it had passed Sabo's nose on its way to her hands told him that it wasn't coffee but hot chocolate. She was drinking hot chocolate even though it was summer? Now that's a love for hot chocolate.

"S'yeah. Once the Alabasta event closed out, Crocodile was repurposed." Barto restated.

"Don't talk about me like I'm not here, damn it," the AI scowled.

"If you don't like it then shut yourself off. This is the topic of conversation so put up with it like the big boy that you are or shut yourself down." Monet snapped back and Crocodile could only growl in response before the screen went black again, leaving Monet looking smug.

"So what about the rest of the AI? What do you do with _them_? It seems like it'd be a waste to get rid of them after you've put so much effort into making them." Sabo questioned.

"It depends, really. Mihawk is, of course, constant. The plan however is to recycle the other events eventually, but with the Eneru mishap, we're not quite sure what to do with him. He's under quarantine for now until we decide." Monet pondering.

Now they were getting somewhere.

"It's really a shame though. I heard that a lot of work went into fine-tuning his programming only for the personality traits that they gave him to mix in all the wrong ways." Barto elaborated.

"That's why we put him in Skypeia, he was still a workable AI, but we didn't want him to get too much exposure or gather too much information and experience from players. So we had to change our original plans for him." Monet concluded.

"I can understand why. It kinda felt like some Skynet shit was about to happen." Sabo agreed, thinking back to his own experience with Eneru. Sabo wondered if he should be taking the information that they gave him as fact or not. There was no indication that it was false. No reason for anything that they had told him so far to be anything but the truth of how things are done. It was all logically sound – at least to him, but he still couldn't shake the odd feeling. it could have just been his own bias but he trusted what Zoro told him to be true and the way that Tashigi had acted on the phone could not be ignored. There was something fishy here, but there was nothing to base the feeling on.

"I didn't expect anyone to beat him, honestly." Monet admitted, pulling Sabo back out of his thoughts.

"But, oh my god, Straw Hat Luffy." Barto practically squealed, "I was there and it was amazing. I couldn't believe that he was practically a new player. The stars all must've aligned in his favor to make that whole experience possible. Who would've thought that somethin' like the gum gum fruit would come so in handy? And he used it in all of the most cool and creative ways. It was like watchin' the birth of a legend." Barto sighed dreamily. "I've been keeping tabs on their progress ever since. Such a small crew of only seven members but so powerful…"

Sabo wondered if he should even be offering this information to the man, but the words were already spilling out of his mouth as he took the opportunity to gloat about his little brother "Y'know, he's actually my little brother."

"Really!?" Barto gasped, voice cracking out of sheer excitement and Sabo witnessed Monet rolling her eyes in the corner of his own.

"Mmhm." And if he'd said that he might as well take it a step further "And so is BrazillianRage of the Whitebeard Pirates. They're both my brothers."

"You've gotta get me autographs" Barto begged, just short of dropping to his knees and crutching at Sabo's shirt.

"We're not from around here, so that's a little impossible." Sabo turned down.

Barto looked as though Sabo had just reached into his chest and crushed his heart with his dragon claws. Sabo felt a small twinge of regret at the sight of the kicked puppy before him.

"What's your claim to fame then?" Monet cut in with a smirk "Or are you just a nobody newspaper writer?"

"Aside from writing for the News Coo and being high up on the rankings, there really isn't much to me. I'm mostly a solo player of little significance." Sabo shrugged "I was ahead of Rage in the rankings until I died fighting Eneru in Skypeia and I'm still trying to recover from the losses."

Monet clicked her tongue "Not surprised, but that's too bad. Living in your brothers' shadows like that. Your stats too, of course. That's also unfortunate. When you get that high it takes forever to recover them."

Barto shuffled his feet and stared at the ground before asking in a small voice "When you go home could you maybe get me an autograph from Mister Luffy and mail it to me here?" Barto turned his off puppy dog eyes upwards and all Sabo was slightly crept out by the sight. Fuckin' Fanboy.

"I'll ask him and see if he's okay with it but no guarantees." Sabo offered hesitantly, only half willing to follow through with the request. No harm would come from just happening to, maybe, forget?

The man's eyes lit up and he looked as through he were about to wrap Sabo in the most suffocating hug on par with that of Luffy's strangle hugs, but thank god he held back. His arms did an awkward reach before he aborted the action by fixing the sleeve of his hand holding his coffee and then taking a sip of the drink.

Sabo turned his attention back to Monet and decided to bring this conversation back around and see just how thorough they had been in their cover-up... if there was any cover-up at all. Maybe they were telling the truth? "So what is the inspiration for the AI?"

"Crocodile is an obvious one, but then Eneru is based on, uh. Who was it again?" Barto asked, slipping back into mostly professionalism.

"Um." Monet chewed her bottom lip and then look a sip of her hot chocolate. Sabo could have sworn that he saw a flash of anxiety and surprise briefly in her eyes. Sabo hoped he wasn't just seeing things that weren't there due to bias. "I think he was a wrestler?" she offered, taking another sip.

"I thought he kinda looked like Eminem." Barto supplied.

"I can see it." Monet agreed, tapping her upper lip with a finger "But um. Huh. I'm… I'm not actually sure." She frowned. "Wasn't my area, I've been occupied with a future event in Punk Hazard. Skypeia was…" Monet drummed her fingers on the desk. "Was that one…nah. Damn. I can't remember who did that one."

Barto shrugged "Don't ask me, I'm new here."

"Oh yeah, that's right." Monet shrugged. "So we don't know where Eneru came from" Monet admitted "But Mihawk is another pretty obvious one if you're in the know on his specialty."

"John Gremillion? The swordsman?" Sabo supplied.

"Mmhm. So you know of him?" Monet asked, slightly surprised.

"More than that. My brother knows a relative of his." Sabo answered, eyes focusing in on Monet, searching for any clues or tells without being obvious about it. If there was anything, Monet was doing a very good job of hiding it. If she was hiding anything at all, Sabo reminded himself.

"I wasn't aware that he had family." Monet revealed.

"Two kids, apparently." Sabo offered.

"Is that so?" Monet asked, raising an eyebrow as her eyes locked with Sabo's. There was a sudden shift in atmosphere at the eye contact and Sabo internally began to panic. Had he fucked up? Was she on to him? Was there even anything going on here at all? Was he imagining that look? Had that been a flicker of anxiety or concern? It felt like Monet was suddenly viewing him in an entirely new light from before. As if she was reevaluating his position on her dangerous to harmless scale. The look was just short of making Sabo squirm. Was it just him, or was it getting hot? Must be all the computers. Yup. All the computers were making it hot. And summer. Summer, too. Summer does that. Summer is hot.

Barto cleared his throat and both Sabo and Monet turned their gazes to the third person in their circle as the man fixed his collar. Sabo then realized that the two of them much have been staring a little too long. The tension in their circle had certainly increased considerably from the relaxed conversation that they had been having just a few minutes before. So he wasn't the only one feeling it anymore. It was not his imagination. Sabo wondered just what kind of thoughts might have been running through Monet's head in that moment, though.

"So we've already established that Mihawk was indeed based off of Mr. Gremillion. We invited him out to Boston for a tournament we were sponsoring in town. We had asked him to come and visit the headquarters to do a few demonstrations so that the animation team could have something to go off of when they worked on his counterpart's fighting style. It was all in an effort to better replicate the movements of a true master swordsman." Monet explained, breaking the strange silence that had festered between them earlier.

It was hard to argue with that, Sabo mentally acknowledged as he kept his expression schooled. At what point had this conversation had become a conversation of wits? A game of cat and mouse? Sabo had to wonder who was the cat and who was the mouse in this situation. Was Monet the mouse, or was he? Sabo had a creeping feeling that he was the mouse in this situation.

"Where did you guys do all of that?" Barto asked, "I was hired, like, last week."

"In the basement next door with the animation team." Monet informed him before turning her gaze back to Sabo and explaining further "That's where we do all of the motion capture stiff. We put him in a mo-cap suit and gave him his sword and told him to do his thing. We even brought someone skilled in to have a mock battle with him."

"He came out here for all of that, but he never did go to the tournament afterword." Sabo mused.

"Quite an unfortunate thing. Everyone was looking forward to it." Monet agreed.

"Did he say why or where he was going afterwards?" Sabo asked, dangling bait just to see if he'd get a bite.

"Unfortunately no and if he had we wouldn't tell you. It's none of mine nor your business." Monet retaliated.

"So what about the boss of the new event?" Sabo asked, shifting the gears of the conversation.

"Egging for clues about Thriller Bark? You've got balls. Its too bad you're not getting anything out of me." Monet smiled smugly, her eyes telling Sabo that her words held more weight then just information on Thriller Bark. Or was that just his imagination again? Gah. Sabo didn't know anymore.

"Had to ask." Sabo smirked right back at her, hiding his internal struggle. "I had a leg up on Alabasta, but I guess I won't be getting one on Thriller Bark."

"You're a reporter. You'd just leak all of the information like you did with Crocodile and then it wouldn't be a secret anymore, now would it?" Monet responded smugly.

"True." Sabo had to agree, but he found it interesting to note that she knew about his article.

"Well then'. I think we're done here." Monet declared. "Unless you have any other questions, but I don't think that's the case."

The abruptness of her declaration left Sabo nodding in agreement before he could even think if he had any other questions he had wanted to ask.

"Good. Barto, could you see him out?" Monet asked the spiky haired man.

Sabo took that as his cue to pick up his phone and halt the recording, saving it before dropping his phone back into his bag. "I'm sure I can find my own way out. It's fine."

"No. I insist." Monet shot down.

Barto looked as though he were also slightly confused about why Sabo would need an escort but nodded anyway. It appeared that Monet doesn't trust him enough to walk out on his own without snooping around first. Suspicious, if Sabo did say so himself. If that was the case, then Sabo was sure that there was something fishy going on under the surface. Something that had been covered up very very well beneath a veil of science, possibilities with valid explanations, and certainty that they wouldn't be questioned.

"Follow me, sir." Barto instructed as he gestured for Sabo to follow, starting down the corridor between workstations and back to the small lobby area by the elevators. The man pressed the down button for Sabo and they waited for the elevator to arrive.

"So what else is here in this building?" Sabo asked.

"Upstairs is the offices, downstairs is the psych labs. It's where a lot of the studies were done on how to make Full Dive Technology work and all the studies on it's effects. Lots of brain science. Ground floor is more brain science in the back but near the lobby it's all public access. There's some rooms where they hold demonstrations and such. Not all that much." Barto informed him as the elevator dinged and the doors slid open. "Rumor has it that there's a basement, but everyone is really tight lipped about it and everything I've heard is just conspiracy theories."

"Conspiracy theories like what?" Sabo asked, interest peaked, as he stepped into the elevator.

"Like experiments and shit like that. The creepy side of science where they do shit the public would be horrified to find out about. They say Mr. Swasey was last seen going down there and he never actually came back out." Barto elaborated, standing in the door of the elevator to ensure that it didn't close on him.

"Huh." Sabo grunted thoughtfully.

"So are you going to get that autograph for me?" Barto asked and Sabo realized that the man had no intention to actually ride with him down to the ground floor.

"Yeah. I'll defiantly talk to him." Sabo nodded, serious this time. He could see it as a bit of a repayment for the information that Barto had just dropped on him.

"Okay. Don't forget to ask. I'll even pay you for it if he says yes." Barto offered, leaning in to press the button for the 1st floor. "Hope you enjoyed your visit." He grinned.

"I did. It was very informative. There's a lot of cool things here." Sabo agreed as Barto stepped back and let the doors slide close.

Sabo immediately pulled out his notepad and scribbled down what Barto had just told him on a clean page. He also wrote down 'get autographs' on the page as well as a reminder just in case he forgot. He had just been slipping his note pad back into his bag when the doors to the elevator slid open again on the second floor to pick up another passenger. Sabo wouldn't have even looked up to see who it was if their footsteps hadn't faltered in the doorway as they asked "Sabo?"

Sabo's head immediately shot up at the sound of his name as the doors began to slide closed, only to open again upon realizing someone was still in the way. Sabo caught sight of a single bit of blue and gold cloth and Sabo immediately turned away again. "Sabo we need to talk."

"No we don't." Sabo insisted, refusing to look at the other person and focusing in on a corner on the floor of the elevator.

"Yes we do! Please, Sabo. It's been ten years, can we at least—"

"I said no!"

"But—"

"NO."

"Sa—"

"SHUT UP, OKAY!?"

"Hey, now."

"Don't you ' _hey, now_ ' me." Sabo snarled. "Get out of my face." He demanded as he shoved the man out of the doorway with one hand and slamming down on the close doors button with the other.

"I just want to talk."

"And I fucking don't." Sabo hissed as the doors slid shut.

The elevator began to move once more and Sabo's knees nearly gave out. He was forced to lean against the side of the elevator in order to maintain his balance, his breaths coming in quick bursts. He tried to swallow around the thick knot that was forming in his throat and he was forced to open up his mouth in an attempt to pull in gulps of air. He needed out of this elevator. He needed out right now. He ran a hand through his hair before reaching behind him and gripping the bar that lined the elevator walls and watching as the number finally ticked down to say he'd reached the ground floor. Sabo wasted no time getting out of the elevator as the doors slid open. he took long, quick strides to get to the front door, ignoring whatever-the-dragon-mascot's-name-was-Sabo-didn't-care's words as he pushed open the door.

Finally into fresh air, Sabo made to take a deep breath, but a shout of "Sabo!" from inside of the building that reached him through the unopened door interrupted him. Sabo pushed the door so that it closed faster and then took off in a light jog, hoping he was heading in the same direction as Kid's car.

"Sabo wait!"

Sabo wrapped his arms around his messenger bag and broke into a run he knew he shouldn't do without his inhaler.

"Sabo!" quieter this time. Quieter was good. Quieter meant further and further was good.

Sabo ran faster as soon as he turned a corner, feeling that familiar tightening in his throat as his breaths turned raspy and he struggled to get air into his lungs. C'mon Sabo. Four counts in and four counts our right now. Don't panic. _Too late for that_. Sabo was definitely already in a downward spiral and he could feel it gripping at his chest.

Sabo nearly slammed into Kid's car when he reached it and, with shaking hands, he fumbled to retrieve Kid's keys from his bag. He stared at them and tried to focus on them with his blurry vision, own breathing loud in his ears. He cursed because he couldn't remember which one was for the car. Right. It's the stupid big key, Sabo, all car keys are like that. C'mon. Get it together. He selected the correct key only for the set to slip from his shaking fingers and hit the ground. Sabo's breath hitched at the sight and he swallowed between gasping breaths before bending down to pick them up. He almost didn't get back up again, content to just curl up into a ball on the ground and definitely not cry. Not now, not yet. Sabo needed to get away from here. Away from _him._ Anywhere but here. Sabo pressed the unlock button on the key and wrenched the driver side door open, climbed inside, and slammed the door shut again.

Sabo let out a shuttering breath, still hugging his messenger bag to his chest as he tried to get his breathing under control. The suffocating silence and the stagnant, hot air in the car only succeeding in making it worse. He shoved the key into the ignition and started the car to get some sound to break the silence and cracked open the windows to get some fresh air flow. and turn on the air conditioning. At least, that's what he'd wanted to do. With shaking, uncoordinated hands he only managed to nearly drop the keys a second time, haphazardly crack all of the wrong windows before slamming his hand on all of the buttons and opening all of them completely, and he never got around to turning on the air conditioning. Frustration quickly mounting onto all of the other reasons why he could no longer breath properly with the tightening he felt in his chest.

He told himself repeatedly that he needed to calm down as he abandoned the task of turning on the air conditioning in favor to fumbling for his phone and throwing his messenger bag into the passenger seat. He struggled to unlock his phone, press one on the dial pad and hit call before dropping his phone onto his lap, making sure he'd put the call on speakerphone. He gripped the steering wheel in both of his hands in order to anchor himself down as he began to feel light headed and the sound of ringing filled the car. He forced himself to try and take deep slow breaths but his lungs were not cooperating with him anymore. His attempts at deep, slow breaths only succeeded in slightly longer then frantic, a little shallow, and shaky by the time the call connected on the second ring.

"Hey." Ace's voice sounded cheerfully from the speaker.

"Ace." Sabo answered, hoping that the gulp of air he had to take in order to say Ace's name wasn't audible and that his shaking hadn't make it into his voice or that Ace wouldn't notice that it was there. He gripped the steering wheel tight enough that his knuckles turned white.

"Sabo, what's wrong?"

No such luck. Ace knew him too well for that. "I—" Sabo swallowed, feeling the knot reforming in his throat as he struggled to get the words out.

"Shh… deep breaths Sabo, you don't have to say anything right now, okay? Just deep breaths."

Sabo nodded, knowing Ace's couldn't see him but it didn't matter.

"Just close your eyes and breathe. Just listen to me and breathe. Deep breathes in and out. With me okay?"

Sabo closed his eyes and followed Ace's pace of breathing and counted each interval, Ace's voice fading into a wordless drone to his ears as he stopped focusing on the world around him. His entire universe reduced to the amount of time it took to inhale and exhale. After a few minutes his throat finally relaxed and his whole body suddenly felt like jelly. He slumped forward and rested his forehead on the steering wheel, hands dropping down to his sides.

"You okay now?" Ace's voice reached his ears once more.

"Yeah, thank you." Sabo sighed, still making sure his breathes remained measured.

There was a pause before Ace asked "Do you wanna talk about it?"

"So I'm in Boston." Sabo started.

Ace chortled "Yeah, thanks for saying bye before you left."

"Shut up. You were asleep and I wasn't going to be the one to attempt waking you up. Besides, you had a pseudo-twenty-four hour shift that evening." Sabo justified, mood lightening a fraction.

"That's fair." Ace allowed, amusement still decorating his words.

Sabo picked up his phone and leaned back. He let his head drop back against the headrest and he glanced around to make sure he wasn't followed out to his car. "it's a long story that brought me here so I'll skip over all of those details because they aren't important right now. You saw the picture I sent you so you know I'm at Celestial's headquarters. One of the building here that I had to visit happened to be named Outlook Labs." Sabo looked around for something to drink and was greatly disappointed. His mouth felt like sand paper and he needed a drink.

"I think I know where this is going."

Sabo sighed "Yeah. And I'd hoped it was just a coincidence. Curse my shitty luck that on my way out I learned that it wasn't." Frustration started rolling in Sabo's gut once more as he continued. "He was there. He tried to talk to me. I wouldn't let him. I wasn't ready and he said he just wanted to talk but I didn't want to so I pushed him out of the elevator and closed the doors on him but he took the stairs and tried to catch me at the door so I started running and then I couldn't breath and he tried to stop me but I guess he gave up after I started sprinting back to Kid's cars and I dropped the keys and I almost cried and I couldn't even open the windows property and I just—"

"Shh. Breathe Sabo." Ace urged, interrupting Sabo's downward spiral. Sabo closed his eyes as he stopped to take a deep, shuttering, breath once more to calm down.

"You know what I'm going to say." Ace reminded him after a time.

"That I should have talked to him." Sabo scowled.

"Sabo. This has been eating you up for a really long time now and this right here confirmed my suspicions. You need to talk to him. Ask him why. Get some closure. I have watched you fall apart over this time and time again, more times that I cared to see. It hurt to watch you beat yourself up over something that you had very little control over.

"When we met you were angry, bitter, and scared that the police would come for you to take you back, but when months had passed and they still hadn't you didn't know how to feel. Some day's you'd be happy and other's would be filled with anger, sadness, regret, frustration, guilt, pretty much every negative emotion under the sun until you just blocked it out entirely and tried to forget all about it. You were so happy that you were finally free but then you'd start asking why all over again." Ace reminded Sabo and the blonde was a little floored by how much of Sabo's struggle Ace had noticed over the years as they lapsed into another silence.

"Sabo." Ace began as he often did in times like these "You need closure or this is just going to keep happening. You can't keep running from it forever. You need answers. Like I said a few months ago, you aren't going anywhere. You're our brother and Luffy and I will fight to keep you. They don't deserve you, not after what they did to you, but after watching you struggle with this for ten years… I think that you need that talk. I've learned that personal bias doesn't get you anywhere, especially when you're too stubborn to learn the other side of the story. If you talk to them you'll either prove me right or prove me wrong and either way, we'll still be here for you."

Sabo pursed his lips, exhaling softly. Ace had definitely stepped up his argument game since last time. "I'll think about it." Sabo allowed.

"Progress." Ace mused.

"No promises though." Sabo amended.

"I didn't expect any. Just you saying that you'll think about it is enough for now." Ace allowed.

"Thanks again, Ace." Sabo smiled.

"I'm your brother, Sabo. It's what I do."

"Alright. I gotta go. Kid's car says that it's almost five and I gotta get it back to him by six." Sabo remembered as he glanced at the dashboard clock of the car.

"You gonna be okay now?"

"Yeah. I think I'll be fine." Sabo confirmed.

"I'll let you go then. See you on Wednesday."

Sabo hummed in affirmation "See you then," and hung up the phone.

* * *

A/N: And that's a wrap!

Thank you all for your kind words they make my day ;-; you all are too lovely. All of your Reviews, Favorites, and Follows mean a lot to me.

To BedofRoses1989: You'll definitely get some Sabo and Law interactions sometime in the future. But that's all I'm saying about that. Don't want to spoil anything.

Next Chapter: We'll be back in the Virtual World for the beginning of some Thriller Bark action with a twist.


	8. Ch 8: Thriller Bark Prt 1

A/N: So Thriller Bark and all the stuff i had to get done before it ended up turning into something obnoxiously long that i couldn't hope to finish it by the end of two weeks, therefore I had to split it. I had a feeling that Thriller Bark would be a multi-chapter endeavor. Should have listened to myself.

Anywho, Another super long chapter for you. (Geez you guys are getting spoiled.)

So without further ado:

* * *

 **Chapter Eight**

Sabo lay facedown on the couch in Kid's living room, feet suspended in the air and face buried into his pillow.

" _They were paid to fire me,_ " Tashigi's words from just barely two hours earlier echoed in Sabo's head. He lifted his chin to rest it on the pillow as he stared at the armrest, letting his legs drop so that his toes touched the edge of the end table. Paid to fire her? What the hell kind of bullshit was that? Sabo turned his head to the side to get mildly more comfortable. He let his right arm drop off the side of the couch to pull at the carpet. He never did get around to pulling out the mattress hidden within the couch despite the fact that it was now Wednesday evening.

" _At first they accused me of being the one that killed him. That somehow my participation and subsequent victory in the competition was enough of a motive for me to kill Mr. Gremillion, but by the end of the day their argument had changed. Suddenly the body we found didn't belong to Mr. Gremillion at all. Even though I'd seen the wallet, collected the phone, called the last number dialed, and contacted your friend Zoro that way… the precinct insisted that none of it was true. They started to pick up some invisible dirt on me to tarnish my spotless record. They claimed that some of the swords in my collection were stolen or purchased illegally and they confiscated them. They were desperate and they did everything they could to get me fired. They must have been offered a rather large sum of money to drive them to that... In the end they ruined my career and now they all think I'm crazy, that I'm some psycho conspiracy theorist. No one believes a word I say."_ Sabo scowled as he continued to replay the conversation in his head. Sabo lifted his hand and turned his wrist, checking the time on his watch. The display read that it was 6:00. Sabo groaned and buried his face in the pillow again. Stupid time zones. Stupid hour later bullshit. It was still a half hour before One Piece opened back up again and another half hour before the start of the event. He needed a distraction and he needed it fast, but would playing One Piece even distract him properly?

" _I don't know why they're doing this. I don't see the point. Maybe they thought that they could get away with pretending that he was still alive. That no one would report him missing because there would be no one to miss him. Apparently no one knew that he had taken in two kids. I think that they just panicked and the precinct got sloppy. I doubt Celestial counted on that. They might have wanted people to think that this Mihawk guy you told me about was being played by Mr. Gremillion, but… I doubt that's their angle now."_

Sabo sighed and lifted his head back up so that he didn't suffocate. Was any of this even worth pursuing? Sabo felt like he was now completely in over his head. He thought back to his visit to the company and how in awe he had been of everything that they do and have done and will do. He thought back to the last few years of his life and how in love he has been with everything that Celestial had done and now this happens? Was this worth losing all of it for? One Piece was his Life. It was _the_ life. It was a lot of people's lives. It let him be who he wanted to be, do what he wanted to do. He could adventure and explore. He could do all of the things that the real world no longer had any excuse for doing. There were no more frontiers in the real world, but in One Piece there were still unexplored islands and unclaimed territories. He could sail the seas, go on adventures, and fight in battles. He could do everything he ever could have hoped to do in his life and feel as if he were making a difference somewhere.

If Sabo could even hope to succeed in revealing everything that Celestial might be doing… would he regret it?

What would happen to One Piece? What would happen to the rest of the company? All of the tech, research, innovations, and advancements that the company had made over the years were hard to ignore. What would happen to all of it? Would anyone even care? Would people just blow it off and ignore it? Would people think that it didn't matter because they were having fun? What if Celestial was doing even more than Sabo even had inklings of them doing? And what the hell was his father's role in all of this? Sabo scowled and let out another frustrated groan.

" _There's someone willing to hire me, so I'm leaving Boston tonight. They can't know we talked so please… for your sake and for mine… don't tell anyone you saw me."_

"You okay there, Sabo? You sound like you're about to give birth to a cow." Kid interrupted Sabo's train of thought, prompting the blonde to flip over and sit up to peer at his friend over the back of the couch. Kid snickered and Sabo scowled. He knew his hair probably looked like a total mess right now with how much he'd been running his hands through it and rolling around on the couch since he got back.

Sabo checked his watch again and sighed in defeat. It was only 6:05 now. "Can it just be 6:30 already?" Sabo grumbled, squishing his face against the back of the couch.

"Going through withdraw?" Kid teased.

"Maybe." Sabo grumbled.

"Pizza Rolls are done, can you get them yourself or are your withdraw symptoms so bad that you can't even function anymore?"

"I'll get them myself." Sabo huffed as he pulled himself up off the couch and shuffled his way to the kitchen. "You know, when you offered to make dinner, I wasn't expecting Pizza Rolls." Sabo chided as he glanced over his shoulder at Kid.

"Hey, I never said I was a chef. This is prime college living." Kid defended as Sabo turned his attention to the pizza rolls already unevenly divided onto two plates. Sabo picked up the plate with more pizza rolls on it for himself as Kid continued. "I would starve to death if it wasn't for Leo's cooking and freezer food. If Hawkins was left to cooking, we'd all be vegetarians," Kid groaned, picking up the other plate and nibbling on a pizza roll.

Sabo popped one of the pizza pockets into his mouth and immediately regretted it as molten pizza sauce seared the inside of his mouth. Refusing to give up the pizza roll, Sabo did his best to chew and cool the pizza roll in his mouth with his breathing. Kid thrust a fresh can of Mountain Dew into his hands and Sabo took a swing, swishing it around in his mouth before swallowing. "Shut up." He preemptively ordered.

Kid held up his free hand in a peaceful gesture "I haven't said anything."

"You were thinking about it." Sabo accused as he wiped his mouth on his sleeve. Kid was definitely going to say something about how Sabo still had a tendency to shove food fresh out of the oven into his mouth. Sabo glanced at the can of Mountain Dew in his hand before setting it down. "So are you going to attempt Thriller Bark tonight?" he asked, picking up another pizza roll and nibbling on it this time.

"You bet I am." Kid confirmed, leaning his hip against the counter. "More for the blood bath before it than the event itself." He admitted, a wicked grin forming on his lips.

Sabo raised an eyebrow, mildly surprised "Is that so?"

"Ahh you weren't there at the start of the Alabasta Event! Man does it get brutal at the opening of these events. Gonna be honest with you, I'm a PKer through and through. One of those scum pirates that everyone hates." Kid snickered. "Authentic pirating if you will. I mean, I _am_ a certified pirate, so I think I have a right to do that kind of shit."

"Certified pirate? You can get certified for that?" Sabo raised an eyebrow.

Kid nearly dropped his plate, "Shit, I didn't show you?"

Now Sabo was confused, "Show me what?"

"My pirate certification from MIT!" Kid exclaimed, setting down his plate, grabbing a pizza roll, and running off to his room. Sabo continued to munch on his pizza rolls as he waited for Kid to come rushing back with a picture frame in his hands. "I had it hanging on my wall, see?" Kid held the picture frame up in front of Sabo.

Sabo set down his own plate, wiping the grease from his fingers onto his shorts before accepting the certificate from Kid. Sabo cleared his throat, deciding to read it aloud in his best (terrible) pirate accent, "This document certifies that the below-mentioned salty dog has fulfilled the Physical Education General Institute Requirement by completing Archery, Fencing, Pistol, and Sailing. Therefore is no longer a lily-livered landlubber. And so, MIT Physical Education Confers upon Eustass Kid The Pirate Certificate with all its privileges and obligations. Given at the swashbucklin' Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Ahoy, Avast and finally, Arrrr!"

"Pretty fuckin' sweet, yeah?" Kid grinned, looking extremely proud of himself.

"So this is legit?" Sabo asked as he glanced over it a second time.

"Fuck yeah it is! Even had to give the super secret Pirate Oath when I received it. I'd tell you what it was, but then it wouldn't be super secret anymore and I'd have to kill you." Kid winked as he took back the certificate.

"So you took classes in all of these things and they let you?" Sabo asked, relinquishing the certificate and picking up his pizza rolls again. He was happy to discover that they were now cool enough to eat whole and proceeded to do so.

"It took a chunk of my electives, but yeah. Leo took all of the classes with me so we're both certified pirates. The robot arm did make things difficult, yes, if that's what you're asking about. They almost didn't let me take some of them, but I was confident so they were confident and it all worked out in the end. The arm I had back then did rust a bit during the sailing course and it prompted me to make some changes to prevent that from happening in the future." Kid shrugged. "What time is it now?"

Sabo chewed on a pizza roll and twisted his wrist to look at his watch, Kid craning his neck to see the time as well. "6:26!"

"Sweet! That means it's almost show time!" Kid cheered, shoving the last of his pizza rolls in his mouth and chewing frantically.

Sabo scarfed down the last of his own and set his plate down in the sink. "Happy Pirating!" He called, turning to find Kid drinking from his Mountain dew.

"Ack. I hate this stuff. I don't know how you can drink it but I was thirsty." Kid handed the can back to Sabo and declared "Good luck getting into the Florian Triangle!" before scampering off to his room.

Sabo gulped down the rest of his soda before crushing the can in his hand and tossing it into the trashcan. He rushed back to the couch, picked his headset up off the coffee table, and then flopped down on the couch. He checked his watch again to find that it was now 6:59. He pulled the headset over his head and got comfortable before activating the system with the command to "Set Sail."

Due to the sudden influx of players logging back into the game after the sever shut down, the log-in phase took much longer than it usually would. Sure having his consciousness suspended in claustrophobic emptiness for a slightly extended period of time was unnerving, but it was nothing that he couldn't handle. He took the time to remember the global map he'd seen back at Celestial. Kid was right. There was probably going to be a blood bath. Something told Sabo that his friend would be laughing maniacally the entire time.

When the sever finally connected him to the game five minutes later, he was standing on the grassy deck of the Thousand Sunny. They'd agreed on Monday that taking a single ship might prove more beneficial in the long run, so there had been a mild dispute over who's ship they were going to take. Ultimately, the decision led to them meeting on the Straw Hat's ship. Sabo was worried about the lack of canons, but there was certainly more room on the Sunny than there was on his own ship. Never the less, after it was decided that they'd take the Sunny, Sabo had given his ship the order to head to the closest island to dock and resupply.

"Sabo!"

Arms snaked around his torso from behind and then a body slammed into him, forcing Sabo to take a step in order to stay upright. The straw of Luffy's hat scratching at Sabo's neck was uncomfortable, so he reached back and knocked the straw hat back onto its string. Sabo ruffed Luffy's hair. "Hey, Lu. Excited?"

"You have no idea!" Luffy squealed, letting Sabo go so that the blonde could turn and look at his little brother.

"My whole crew said that they should be able to make it today!" Luffy grinned "This is going to be so awesome! Is that girl going to be here, too? And do you know is Ace is brought anyone with him? I kinda wanna meet that pineapple guy."

Shit. Sabo forgot to invite Koala.

"Hey Luffy! Key Sabo!" A voice called out in greeting with the sound of a door opening "It's about time someone showed up."

"Nami!" Luffy called out excitedly, waving to the red headed navigator as she descended the stairs. So her name was Nami?

"Good to see you again, Oran." Sabo greeted, sticking to the name derived from her username. The unwritten rule of the virtual world was to not use someone's real name unless otherwise specified.

"You can go ahead and call me Nami." She allowed with a dismissive wave and Sabo made a mental note to do so. Nami turned to Luffy. "Law called me from work today and asked me to tell you that he can't come. He got called in and wishes you luck."

"He's not even an official doctor yet and they still called him in on a day off?" Luffy pouted.

So the Surgeon of Death was a real doctor, eh? That explained some things. It was also worth noting to Sabo that Nami and Law knew each other outside of the game. It likewise explained why they had been teamed up before Skypeia.

"Ah! Zoro! You made it!" Luffy called, dragging Sabo off of his train of thought to turn his attention to the swordsman.

"Got someone to take my shift, just as promised! I wouldn't miss something like this for the world." Zoro grinned. His gaze shifted to Sabo and he gave the blonde a nod of acknowledgement. "Hey, Sabo."

Sabo nodded back before recalled his talk with Tashigi just over two hours earlier. He made a mental note to consider talking to Zoro about it later, but debated if it was necessary.

While he contemplated that, two other crewmates joined the fray. The young… doctor was it? His name was…

"Chopper!" someone Sabo had yet to meet exclaimed. Ah. That's right. Chopper was the kid's name.

"Usopp! We haven't been on at the same time in _forever_!" Chopper squealed in delight, launching himself at this Usopp guy and wrapping him in a hug. Usopp hugged the little guy back before turning to Zoro and giving the swordsman a fist bump.

"You still doing okay?" Sabo overhead Zoro asking Usopp in a low voice.

An arm wrapped around Sabo's shoulders, pulling the blonde's attention away from a conversation he had no business prying into, "Hey, Ace." Sabo smiled softly.

"He's sure found himself a rowdy crew." Ace remarked as a man with electric blue hair and clothed in merely a speedo and a Hawaiian shit joined the group. He must be Franky, one of Kid's professors. Sabo wondered if Kid knew that his professor pranced around in a speedo. Oh god. Sabo would not want to know that about any of his professors.

"Suuuper ready for action!" Franky yelled and it dawned on Sabo that Franky was the cause of the odd emphasis on the word 'super' that Kid had had. Sabo wondered vaguely if Kid was even aware that he'd been doing it.

"I think that that might be an understatement." Sabo agreed with Ace, turning his gaze back to his brother.

"I definitely want to party with this crew." Ace admitted with a wicked grin. "I think they've got enough party in them to rival a party with the Whitebeards."

Sabo whistled "That's a hefty comparison if the rumors are to be believed."

"The rumors do us no justice." Ace laughed as the last crewmember showed up looking snazzy in a suit and tie.

"Nami-swan! I've finally arrived! Did you miss me~" he cooed.

"Oh, can it lover-boy." Zoro demanded.

"Yeah, these guys are great." Ace confirmed as they watched the ensuing fight between the blonde and the green-haired swordsman. The blonde guy seemed to fight primarily using kicks. Interesting.

"Told you we wouldn't have to worry about him." Sabo smirked.

Luffy joined Ace and Sabo by the railing with a grin on his face "Did you guys invite anyone else to join us?"

"I invited Pineapple-head since he's the only one who doesn't work evenings, but he wasn't sure if he would be able to make it in time. He said he'll try, but don't wait for him." Ace explained. "He had business in Fishman Island yesterday."

"And… I forgot to invite Koala… and even if I had she wouldn't make it here in time. I sent our ship off to get supplies." Sabo grimaced. "My bad."

"Well, alright then." Luffy jumped up onto the railing and threw his hands into the air. Sabo and Ace both threw out a hand to make sure he didn't fall, but it was completely unnecessary. Luffy laughed "Hey guys! Looks like pretty much everyone is here! We'll probably be getting another addition later but for now, it's time I introduce you to my brothers!"

The bunch on deck quickly calmed down as their captain drew their attention, the swordsman and the blonde's fight even halting mid blow. Luffy jumped back down from the railing, squeezing into the previously nonexistent space between Ace and Sabo. He draped his arms across each of their shoulders and continued, "On the left we have Ace errr Rage I mean or whatever." Luffy's voice dropped into a low hiss "What am I supposed to call you?"

"Ace is fine." The raven allowed, "Since it seems like you're all so well acquainted with each other already."

"Okay. So. This one's Ace!" Luffy repeated, shaking Ace's shoulders before giving Sabo the same treatment "And this one is Sabo. They're both my big brothers and they're both really strong."

Ace bowed in greeting "It's a pleasure to meet you all. I've heard a lot about you from Luffy."

Sabo lifted a hand in a casual greeting "Yo. I've met some of you before, but it's good to see you all in one place."

"Shishishi so this is my crew! We've got Zoro who's our swordsman. He's an idiot that uses three swords and gets lost all the time." Luffy explained, pointing to Zoro.

"Hey!" The swordsman protested. Sabo, along with the blonde in the suit, couldn't help the snickers that escaped them at Luffy's bluntness.

"And that's Usopp! He's a liar and a sniper and he tells really good stories." Luffy continued, pointing to the long-nosed, cape-wearing boy in brown overalls.

"You may know me as Captain Usopp!" the boy, about Luffy's age, declared as he brandished his slingshot. A sniper with a slingshot, eh? Sabo had no idea who he was. Was he supposed to? Sabo guessed not.

"Zoro and Usopp sailed together with some other people before I met them and they joined my crew. They're friends in real life." Luffy further explained. A spark of memory burst in Sabo's mind as he recalled his talk with Zoro. The swordsman had mentioned an Usopp back then, now that he thought about it.

Luffy directed their attention to the blonde as he continued his introductions "That's Sanji! He's our cook and he's an _amazing_ cook. You guys _have_ to try his food! I found him working at this restaurant on a French island and he was pretty much the only one there that spoke any English. And guess what! Eating in this game isn't useless, so you can tell your friend that she can shove it because we get stat boosts from eating Sanji's cooking."

"I'll be sure to let her know." Sabo chuckled, his interest definitely peeked. So if you were a skilled enough cook, the food you made would provide state boosts? Sabo definitely needed to find a cook that good.

"We're definitely having a party when this is done, then." Ace finalized. "I need to try his food."

"If you eat as much as our shitty captain, it'll probably empty our supplies." The cook grimaced.

"Don't worry," Ace began with a grin.

"We do." Sabo finished, mischievous grin finding its way onto his lips.

" _Bordel de merde_ " the cook groaned in what Sabo assumed was French. "You're lucky I like cooking."

"We hardly have enough money as it is!" Nami scowled. "We better get a good cash haul from Thriller Bark or we're all getting jobs at the next island. We don't do any real pirating so it's almost impossible to keep our stores stocked."

"That's Nami!" Luffy interrupted to continue with the introductions. "There's nothing she loves more than money and tangerines and she's also our navigator! She was with Law's crew before she joined us at Skypeia."

"Who's Law?" Ace asked.

"I told you about him! He's the captain of the Heart Pirates. He's an ally of ours." Luffy expanded.

"You mean that sick fuck I hear cuts people's hearts out?" Ace pulled away from Luffy a little to gaze at him in concern.

"Well, _duh_. He _is_ going to be a heart surgeon." Luffy stated as if it were the most obvious thing on the planet.

"That's not what a heart surgeon does!" Ace exasperated "And if he were my doctor, I don't think I'd want him anywhere near my heart. Not when I know the rumors they tell about him here."

"It doesn't _kill_ them." Luffy protested.

"Yeah, but it seems to be that Dr_Heart_Stealer apparently likes ripping people's hearts out more than he likes fixing them." Ace shot back. "I don't want you associating with him. He could be a serial killer."

Nami snorted and covered her mouth with a hand to hide her smile, but it didn't go unnoticed by Sabo. He suspected she found the idea of Law being a serial killer to be amusing.

"Too late. We've been friends since Skypeia." Luffy shot right back as Sabo turned his gaze to look at the looming countdown clock hovering over the horizon.

"Alright enough of that." Sabo cut in. "Let's continue with the introductions, we're running out of time." Sabo's eyes didn't leave the countdown clock. There were many of these digital clocks displayed across the red-tinted barrier that stretched across the seas, keeping ships out of the event area on one side and holding back a thick fog on the other. The clock was reading eight minutes until the event launched and there were scores of ships scattered across the seas ahead of them and in either direction. All of them were waiting for the moment that clock struck zero.

"Right! So that's Chopper" Luffy began again, voice moving faster now as he buzzed with excitement. "He's the one that ate the reindeer fruit we got from Skypeia and he's also our doctor, he's really smart. We met him in Alabasta!" Chopper shifted his feet sheepishly as Luffy continued on, eyes glued to the clock as well. "And last, but not least, we have Franky! He's our resident cyborg shipwright! He's the one that built the Thousand Sunny for us in Water Seven so he only joined us a few weeks ago."

"Super awesome to meet you!" the man declared, striking a pose.

"I've heard a lot about you from Kid!" Sabo called out, unable to resist.

"Kid? As in Eustass Kid?" Franky asked, giant hands shifting to his hips.

Sabo nodded in confirmation "Yup. He's a really good friend of mine."

"So you're the famous Sabo!" Franky grinned, "It's nice to finally meet you." Sabo took the information that apparently Kid talked about him and filed it away for definite future teasing of his best friend.

"Uh, guys?" Usopp cut in.

Sabo turned to follow everyone's gaze portside to see a ship larger than theirs within firing range, cannons trained on the Sunny. They weren't flying a pirate flag so they must be Bounty Hunters.

"It seems your fame has come to bite you in the ass. People aren't about to let you win twice in a row." Ace remarked.

Ace's observation was proven correct when a yell came from the opposing ship, "You've already had your chance Straw Hats!"

"You're not getting the prize this time!" Came another call from behind them on the starboard side. Sabo turned to find another ship within range. These ones were definitely pirates.

"Heads up! We have incoming!" Zoro called out, drawing one of the three swords at his hip. So he was a left-handed swordsman? Sabo noted as Zoro raised his sword until it was horizontal over his left shoulder, right hand resting on his sword arm. The stance activated a skill in the system and Zoro's blade began to glow with a faint blue hue. Canons fired and Zoro sliced the air, a blast of blue energy erupting from his blade for a long distance attack, exploding the incoming cannon balls on impact. Sabo wondered if, in order to use his three-sword-style, Zoro would have to call out the names of his attacks like Sabo had to do for his own Dragon Claw technique skills. Sabo doubted that a three-sword style technique was already built into the system before hand so there was a good chance that was correct.

"See! We don't need canons!" Luffy grinned as Sanji jumped up onto the starboard railing.

"Not when we can just do this!" The cook grinned before both Luffy and Sanji jumped into the air.

"Gum Gum Balloon!" Luffy called, sucking in air and expanding, several cannonballs slamming into his gut and pushing him back against the mast. Luffy's rubber body then rebounded, launching the cannon balls back at the pirate ship.

"Collier Shoot!" the cook called at the same time, kicking the cannonballs that Luffy hadn't caught right back. He landed back on the railing looking satisfied as the cannonball struck the mast of the other ship.

"Besides! Nami refuses to pay for them." Usopp explained, using his beetle-looking slingshot staff in his hands to explode cannonballs with Zoro.

"It's expensive!" Nami justified. "We need all the money to feed our idiot captain!" Sabo turned his gaze to find that she was calmly climbing up the staircase. "Franky! Time to make preparations for a coup de burst! You know the drill!"

"Aye!" the crew responded simultaneously. Okay so who was the one in charge here? Was Luffy _really_ the captain?

"Oi! Fen! Down here!" Ace called, jumping slightly and waving his arms wildly.

The cannon fire from both attacking ships stopped mid round as Ace stepped out to the center of the deck and Sabo had to smirk. The crew likewise stopped mid-task as they all turned their gazes upwards.

One shot fired from the bounty hunters (quickly intercepted by the Straw Hat's resident sniper) but no other cannon shots were ever fired. In place of the sound of cannon fire, the sound of fluttering flames reaching Sabo's ears as he finally turned his gaze upwards.

"WOOAH! He's actually a phoenix!" Luffy exclaimed, eyes shining like stars with his excitement as blue and gold flames in the shape of a bird dived towards the ship.

"That's so cool!" Chopper and Usopp likewise exclaimed.

The phoenix's wings spread in order to halt his dive then flapped wildly to slow his descent. Fire molted from the zoan type's body, allowing a human to emerge from the flames and land upon the deck of the Thousand Sunny.

"Sorry I'm late, yoi. I had to fly all the way from Sabaody today in order to make it in time to join you." Fen apologized before turning his lazy gaze to Luffy "You must be Luffy, yoi. Your brother's told me a lot about you."

"We'd love to introduce ourselves but c'mon! It's time to get a move on!" Nami interrupted. "We're running out of time!"

"Aye! Time to furl the sails!" Franky called out and the crew exploded back into action, following Franky's orders step by step through the process.

"Isn't this counter-productive?" Ace asked, watching as the first of the sails went up.

"You'd think that they'd want the sails lowered…" Fen agreed.

"Any idea what a…" Sabo tried to remember what Nami had called it earlier "coup de burst is?"

"Never heard of it." Fen shook his head.

"Maybe it's a laser beam." Ace offered jokingly.

"Well the ship _can_ fire laser beams." Sabo recalled as the crew furled the last of the sails. It seemed to Sabo that their crew was lacking a few hands in order to make the whole process run more quickly and smoothly. They still worked like a well-oiled machine regardless.

"What? I was only kidding!" Ace gaped.

Sabo shrugged "I haven't seen it for myself but apparently it can."

"Sounds rather O.P." Fen frowned.

"Maybe there's drawbacks?" Ace suggested.

"Who cares if there are two whitebeard pirates on that ship!? It's just two players!" the pirates on the starboard ship argued. Sabo grabbed his pipe in preparation for defense against an attack.

"Alright, in FIVE!" Nami commanded, her eyes glued to the countdown clock that read four seconds remaining.

"Ready the canons!" the pirates called.

"Ace! Sabo! Pineapple! Brace yourselves!" Luffy commanded, the ever-present laughter on the edge of his voice as Nami's countdown continued.

"What?" Sabo paused in the middle of taking a stance to prepare for knocking back cannon balls.

"Why?" Ace asked, equally confused.

"Pineapple?" Fen scowled, shooting an accusatory glace in Ace's direction.

"Go!" Nami commanded as the barrier vanished, fog spilling out of its boundaries. The fog muted the sounds of cannon fire as it wrapped its misty tendrils around the hordes of ships battling it out at it's former border.

The ship beneath Sabo's feet seemed as if it were vibrating with pent of energy just waiting to be released. Ace and Fen both met Sabo's confused gaze with their own before the world abruptly shifted around them.

The ship's deck raced to meet Sabo's face, earning him a mouthful of dirt and grass and leaving him dazed and confused by the sudden turn of events. He sat up, spitting out grass and reaching for his hat as it was knocked from his head by the rush of wind streaming passed them. Fog rushed to meet them with its embrace, reducing visibility to practically none before thinning out so that Sabo could see the whole of the ship's deck. Darkness began to descend upon the ship as Sabo lifted up his hand, watching as the fog swirled around his fingertips.

Ace sat up across from Sabo, hat dangling from his neck, after having been likewise been knocked off of his feet by the ship's shift in momentum. "Are we… flying?"

"We're definitely flying." Fen confirmed as he released the railing behind him and turned, wind whipping at the mop of blonde hair on his head.

"So that's why the Thousand Sunny was hanging so far behind the crowd of ships like that." Sabo realized.

Luffy's joyous laughter reached them from the bow of the ship where he was standing with his arms spread wide, fog swirling around the fingertips of his outstretched hands. Sabo couldn't help the smile that appeared on his lips at the sight of his little brother. It was good to see Luffy being like himself again, laughing and smiling, happy and carefree. One Piece seemed like the place where Luffy belonged. Where he'd found the friends he'd spend his whole life searching for. It was the place where all of his dreams came true. Sabo frowned, fingers clutching at the grass before him. Could he really potentially take that all away from him?

"Something wrong, Sabo?" Ace asked, drawing Sabo's attention away from his thoughts.

Sabo shook his head "No, it's nothing."

"What happened to no secrets between us?" Ace accused, narrowing his eyes.

Sabo sighed "Later, then, just... not now. I'd rather not think about it right now."

Ace's eyes softened "Fair enough" He allowed.

"Brace for landing!" Franky called out.

Sabo leaned back slightly before the ship hit the water hard enough to create a wave nearly as high as the ship's railing. It rolled for a moment before regaining its balance upon the water's surface. It wasn't until the ship was settled that Sabo dared to stand. He was surprised that the ship hadn't just shattered on impact. It must have been built with the sturdiest stuff in the game. Must have been expensive.

"So now what?" Zoro asked as they all gravitated towards the central mast in order to get a clear view of everyone in the thick fog.

"We find Thriller Bark." Sabo stated simply.

"And just how are we supposed to do that?" Sanji asked, fitting a cigarette between his lips and pulling out his lighter.

"Good question." Ace agreed.

Nami swiped a hand through the air and navigated the menu system. She flicked two fingers towards the center of their makeshift circle and a holographic map spread out before her for everyone to see. Sabo eyed the details displayed on the holographic map. There was a red trangle that marked the perimeter of the event area and an orange dot that marked the Sunny's location within it. Everything outside of the border was detailed down to the ocean currents and wind patters and Sabo had to wonder just how high Nami's skill set for all of this was for it to be so detailed. To be expected was how empty the Florian Triangle was, however. "I spent the last few days having the Sunny sail around the perimeter of the Florian Triangle to map out the event area. The fog does make things tricky, but we have some clues thanks to my calculations."

"Nami's always so smart!" Sanji swooned.

"Now's not the time, Curly brow." Zoro snapped. Curly brow? Sabo zeroed in on Sanji's eyebrow and suddenly realized that the cook did, indeed, have an eyebrow that curled. How had he not noticed that before?

"Our location on the map is based on the calculations I did today. It's an estimate drawn from our location when I gave the order for the coup de burst, the distance that one usually takes us, and the wind patterns of the area. From all of that I was able to place where on the map where we would most likely land. My navigational instruments don't work within the triangle so we wont know 100% if this is accurate, but it's the best we've got." Nami explained further. Sabo caught sight of Luffy standing there with his chin resting in the crook of his thumb and pointer finger, eyes narrowed, and nodding in mock understanding. Sabo suppressed a snicker at the sight.

"You're pretty good at this, yoi," Fen praised, obvious impressed. "I could learn a thing or two from you about navigation."

"Thank you! Um… what do we call you? We never actually got an introduction." Nami asked.

"Fen." The phoenix revealed.

"Nami." The navigator pointed to herself before going down the line and introducing everyone else. "I'm assuming you already know Ace, Sabo, and Luffy."

"Of course, yoi." Fen nodded. "I look forward to working with you all. Please, continue."

Nami nodded and turned her attention back to the map. "We're not very far into the fog, but far enough that we're ahead of the crowd for now because of how far I had the Sunny hang back. As for finding Thriller Bark, I think the smartest thing to do is sail towards the center for now and see what we can find. It's several hours sailing to get from one point of the triangle to another so we have a very wide search area. I'd rather not take all night finding this place. The log pose wont be any help either. Appears that Thriller Bark isn't an island which makes things a bit more difficult." Nami explained.

A sound caught Sabo's attention and he tilted his head slightly in that direction, focusing his senses on his hearing. Cannon fire. He couldn't tell how far away is was, however, thanks to the dampening effect the fog had on sound. Couldn't be too far, though. "We might want to get moving before the other ships catch up, I can hear cannon fire." Sabo expressed.

"Right. Unfurl the sails and let's get moving!" Luffy commanded and the crew got to work once more.

* * *

It was slow going finding Thriller Bark. Finding wasn't really the verb, though. Stumble upon would have been more accurate. The game itself had been the guide to finding their spooky destination. It started with the massive, ghastly-looking galleon that had nearly mowed them over. It was the first, literal, shove in the right direction as it forced them to change course. As the ship passed them on their portside, it became obvious that the rickety, old vessel was empty and left half the crew proclaiming that it was a ghost ship. Luffy had begged that they board it, but the crew had veto'd it in favor of continuing their search. It wouldn't do to have other ships beat them to Thriller Bark because they'd been prancing around with ghosts on an empty ship.

The second shove in the right direction had come in the form of shady-looking pillars looming in the shadows of the fog. Sabo wasn't sure he even wanted to know what they were. There had been rumors of true terror lurking within the fogs of the Florian Triangle, but was that even a thing during the event? Regardless, the whirlpools created by the currents hitting the things had forced Franky and Nami to direct them, yet again, in a new direction (much to Luffy's disappointment once more). Two detours later found them sailing towards the gate looming before them now.

"So it looks like this is it. "Nami suggested wearily as they all eyed the mouth shaped gate while they sailed through it, giving the appearance that they were being eaten.

Sabo squinted through the purplish haze surrounding them to see the stone wall surrounding the island, a portion of it collapsed. His eyes drifted upwards to take in the forest looming beyond the wall and there was the vague form of a castle hidden within the fog as well.

"And there's no turning back now, yoi." Fen added, prompting Sabo to turn and watch as the creepy mouth gate closed behind them.

"I wonder if this means that the event will only take one group at a time." Sabo pondered.

"Or maybe it's timed," Sanji offered, lighting another cigarette between his lips. Chain smoker much? He's lucky this is a digital world. "It's been exactly thirty minutes since the start of the event."

"Who cares!? Let's check this place out!" Luffy cheered.

"We need a plan first." Nami reminded him.

"Plans are for the Heart Pirates. Straw Hats don't make plans. So, since Law isn't here to bitch about it, let's just skip the planning part because it's boring and pointless and just _go._ " Luffy whined, jumping up and down in excitement.

"I'm down." Ace grinned "no plan is the best plan. Ace out." The fire user declared taking the initiative by throwing open the hatch in the deck and dropping below deck.

"Ace, where are you going, yoi?" Fen called out, slightly annoyed.

"To get the Striker!" Ace's voice emanated from the open hatch.

Sabo turned to Nami "Can't we just take that little steam boat?"

Nami sighed and threw her hands up in defeat "I guess! There's no stopping all three of you so take her and go."

"Ace! Wait up!" Sabo called out, dropping down the hatch as Luffy celebrated. He found Ace standing by the bottom of the ladder and rubbing his chin in thought.

"I can't remember which of the docks holds Striker." Ace admitted, rubbing the back of his neck now as he drew his lips to the side in contemplation.

Luffy dropped down the hatch behind Sabo and bounded to meet them. "The Mini Merry II fits four people and none of us know how to drive it so Nami is going to come with us, too. Pineapple guy asked us to look for a place to dock the ship and let them know when we find one."

"Yeah, which means I'm stuck with all three of you." Nami scowled as she climbed down the ladder. "At least Sabo is decent and makes good conversation." She grumbled.

"I know that Luffy can be a handful, so I am very thankful to you and the rest of the crew for looking out for him for us." Ace thanked politely as the dock system rotated around them.

"I expect compensation for being your brother's baby sitter, but I guess I can give you guys a discount." Nami allowed as Luffy opened up the dock for the Mini Merry II.

Luffy whipped around to look at them with a gasp "Woooah! Nami said she'd _give_ a discount!?"

"You're not sick are you?" Sabo feigned, words accompanied by an exaggerated gasp.

"Don't make me take it back!" Nami snapped.

The confused look on Ace's face prompted Luffy to explain "Like I said before, there is nothing that Nami loves more than money and tangerines, so watch your pockets."

"Oh so it's not just that she loves money. She's a thief." Ace concluded with understanding.

"The best." Nami boasted with a wink.

"C'mon guys! At this rate they'll find a dock before we even leave!" Luffy urged.

"I only steal from other pirates." Nami added, climbing into the raft. "It was never theirs to begin with." She snickered, sticking out her tongue before sitting down behind the wheel.

"Makes sense." Ace allowed as he climbed into the back. "So this is a steam boat?" he asked, gazing at the mechanism attached the back of the ship.

"Yup! Our shipwright is the best of the best." Nami praised as Sabo slid in next to Ace.

"What's in the rest of these? I wasn't able to stick around for the grand tour yesterday because the station got a call and I was booted from the game." Ace explained as the steamboat came to life and began paddling its way to open water.

Luffy turned in his seat and began to excitedly tell Ace all about the paddles and various watercrafts at their disposal. It still wasn't fair that the Straw Hats never had to row when the weather was total shit for sailing. He supposed they made up for it by manually operating the ship like he's seen them do for the last half hour, but still. Not fair.

Sabo thought he saw something in the fog and narrowed his eyes, faintly catching the outline of what looked to be a ship or two. Sabo tapped the back of Nami's shoulder with the back of his hand and directed her attention to the right. "Looks like there's some ships over there. Maybe we can find a place to dock."

"Where?" Nami squinted.

"Yeah, I can't see shit." Ace agreed.

"Twenty degrees starboard. I can see the outline of a mast in the fog. The silhouettes are just a shade different from everything around them, but I'm pretty certain they're ships." Sabo specified, his arms folded on the back of Nami's seat.

"If you say so." Ace replied skeptically.

"I'll trust your word on it." Nami accepted.

"Let's check it out!" Luffy decided, excitedly smacking Nami on the arm to get her to turn the Mini Merry that direction.

"I'm on it!" Nami snarled, punching Luffy to get him to stop, leaving him half conscious and draped over the side of the ship, hand trailing in the water. Was that haki?

Ace slowly leaned closer to Sabo and whispered, "Remind me never to piss her off."

It was a while before anything came into view and Luffy was already complaining about how he should have asked Sanji to make him a Pirate Lunch Box (whatever that was) to take with him to eat. Having yet to try Sanji's cooking, Sabo and Ace were both inclined to agree with him. Nami sighed and produced three lunch boxes from her own inventory and tossed them to Sabo for distribution.

"Someone here had to come prepared." Nami scowled as Ace grabbed oen and Sabo handed another to Luffy.

Sabo's first bite was nothing short of heavenly. He didn't even know what he was eating but dear god was it delicious. It looked like it was seafood of some kind. Sabo didn't even like seafood but Jesus, did he like it now. He melted in his chair as he took another bite. It had to be a sin to eat food this good.

"It's a foodgasm in my mouth." Ace moaned around a mouthful of food. "If I could have sex with this food I would. I have never tasted anything so delicious in my life."

"I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that." Nami muttered under her breath.

"Sabo your cooking is atrocious in comparison." Ace said as he shoveled more food into his mouth.

"I'll take that as a compliment." Normally Sabo would probably take offense to that but all food was inedible in comparison to what was currently in Sabo's mouth. Atrocious had to be a step up from that, right?

"I told you Sanji was the best!" Luffy gloated, having already finished his share.

"I think I see a dock." Sabo talked around another mouthful of food, pointing his chopsticks ahead of them.

"Yup. Someone go ahead and let them know." Nami ordered.

"On it." Ace volunteered, chopsticks between his teeth and empty lunch box in his lap. Both the chopsticks and the box dissolved into pixels as he opened up his menu, a keyboard appearing before him. He quickly typed out a message and hit send. "I let Fen know."

"So I take it Sanji is a chef in real life?" Sabo asked. "Because if he is, I am—"

"He isn't." Luffy interrupted. Sabo's froze in surprise, last bite stopping on it's journey towards his mouth.

"What? He's not?" Sabo asked, shocked. Someone this good at cooking wasn't a chef in real life?

"Why?" Ace asked, mouth full. Wait. Mouth full? Sabo looked at his chopsticks to find that the last bite was gone. Ace had leaned over while Sabo wasn't paying attention and stolen it from him. How dare he!?

Sabo punched Ace as Luffy began to explain "He doesn't talk about it… it's… a sore subject." Luffy hesitated, looking down at the divider between the front and back seats as Sabo adjusted his sleeves and his box and chopsticks disappeared. Luffy glanced at Nami briefly before saying "He told me once awhile back that his family owns a restaurant… but he can't cook anymore so… he only cooks here." Luffy looked up at Sabo and Ace "So please… don't bring it up to him. I don't want him to be sad again."

Sabo nodded silently in understanding.

"Got it." Ace accepted, pausing before he continued "I can still tell him that I got a foodgasm from eating his food, right?"

"Shishishi of course." Luffy grinned. "Feed his ego. He needs it." He added sarcastically.

"Hey guys…" Nami interrupted.

"Hm?" Sabo grunted, turning his attention to her.

"Holy shit." Ace swore.

"The spider that spin that web must have been HUGE!" Luffy gasped.

"Oh boy…" Nami sighed. "I am so glad that this is a virtual world…"

"I do not want to meet the spider that spin that web." Sabo agreed, staring at the expanse of thick webbed tendrils that stretched across the expanse of ocean between the central area and the outer wall. There were, indeed, two ships caught in the web like he'd thought. There was also a wooden dock next to the ships positioned at what must have been the entrance into Thriller Bark.

"Should we dock now, or wait for everyone else?" Ace asked.

"Dock now!" Luffy declared.

"I agree. Let's dock now but not wander." Sabo amended. "it could be a trap. This looks like the only way into the island so who knows what lies beyond this gate. We should be careful."

"Which is why I vote dock later. 'Don't wander' isn't a command that exists for Luffy. I'd rather wait to deal with traps when the rest of the gang is here." Nami voted and the three of them turned to Ace for his decision.

Ace slapped his hand on the Mini Merry's railing and declared, "Dock now. Sorry, Nami, but I wanna get this show on the road."

Nami let out a defeated sigh "Alright. Docking it is." She relented, steering their small craft towards the dock.

Ace tapped Sabo's shoulder with the back of his hand to get his attention and pointed towards the flag of the gothic-looking ship caught in the web ahead of them. "Recognize that pirate flag?"

Sabo narrowed his eyes to decipher what the jolly roger was. It appeared to just be a simple bat design. "Nope. I got nothing. Should I know it?" Sabo asked before letting his eyes further wander over the design of the ship. Whoever owned that ship would probably love Thriller Bark.

"Nope. I don't recognize it either. Must be new." Ace frowned as Nami climbed out of the Mini Merry and stretched, Luffy jumping out behind her.

"We'll be sure to meet them sooner or later." Nami dismissed as Sabo climbed out of the craft.

Sabo ran his eyes over the second ship as Ace climbed out after him. It was small and had square sails, most likely a Caravel. No identifiable markings. It looked like it had been there a long time though, so a player must not have owned it.

"Luffy get back here, damn it!" Nami yelled.

"C'mon! I'm excited! Let's check it out!" Luffy called back, his voice already distant and Sabo turned.

Nami bounded down the stairs after Luffy with suprising dexterity for someone in heels. "I'll tell Sanji that you aren't allowed to eat for the rest of the week!" She scolded as Sabo and Ace ran after them. With food that delicious? Now that was cruel.

"You wouldn't." Luffy gasped, equally as horrified as he stopped so fast he left skid marks in the… skeletons!? Sabo recoiled instinctively with an embarrassing squeak at the sight of the mountain of skeletal remains he was now standing in.

"Oh geez. That's a lot of dead bodies." Ace grimaced, poking a skull with his boot.

Nami squeaks as she pulled her heel out of a crushed skull. She grimaced as he stepped aside before looking up the walls on either side of them. "These walls must be over twenty feet tall… and I think this was a moat."

"Seems stupid. There's ocean on the other side of the wall and this is all dry." Ace frowned.

"Unless this used to be part of an island that was moved." Sabo shrugged, the idea sounding absolutely ridiculous but this was One Piece.

"Well Thriller Bark _is_ a boat." Luffy stated.

"How do you know that?" Nami asked.

"it's obvious. A Bark is a type of ship and this place is Spooky so it's a Thriller. Thriller Bark." Luffy justified. "So maybe it _is_ part of an island that got moved like a ship.

Nami blinked a few times. "That… that's actually logical… somehow."

Luffy stuck his tongue out.

Sabo knelt down and picked up one of the skulls, peering into its eye sockets as he straightened once more. "I wonder how these all got here and how old they are. Not that it matters, I suppose. They are technically all new… but. What happened here?" Sabo toed at the shattered pieces of wood mixed in with the skeletons. "Maybe ships? Depends on how old this island, ship or whatever-it-is is."

"Since when were you an archeologist?" Ace smirked.

Sabo tossed the skull to the side "Just making guesses."

A growl emanated from the shadows of the moat, turning their attention towards the beast that stepped into the half-light.

"Cerberus!" Luffy excitedly explained.

"So it seemed we are literally standing in the Hallway to Hell." Ace smirked.

"I'm gonna tame it." Luffy declared.

"No, you're not." A girly voice interrupted. "You can't tame him because he's already mine." It was a voice vaguely reminiscent of the voice Sabo imagined when he pictured the stereotypical, preppy, high school girl. "Wittle Cerby Werby is just the cutest and he's all mine. I wish I could take him home with me~ I want to keep him after the event." She giggled, jumping off the back of the three-headed beast to stand before them in full view.

"I think we found who that ship belonged to." Ace remarked as they took in the long pink hair and gothic appearance of the girl now standing before them. She honestly did not look like she belonged in One Piece.

"So you are…" Nami drifted off.

"I'm the Ghost Princess! This place is just my style." She sighed dreamily. "It's got just the right mix of creepiness, desolation, and the undead… if I wasn't looking for someone I'd probably stay here forever."

"Wait. The undead!? There's actually zombies!?" Nami squeaked.

"PERONA!?" A surprised yell came from the stairs behind them. Sabo turned to find Zoro and everyone else bounding the steps. Oh, so they all made it.

"Gah! Perona!" Usopp squeaked.

"Who's Perona?" Chopper asked.

"What the ever loving FUCK are you doing here!? Since when did _you_ play One Piece!?" Zoro demanded as he reached the bottom of the stairs and stormed towards her.

"Ever since you started _moping_ about it! I took your headset while you were sulking and started playing to see everything for myself!" Perona snapped back, storming to meet Zoro halfway. Wait. What was happening? They know each other?

"I was not _sulking_." Zoro defended. The swordsman had definitely been sulking if Sabo's talk with Luffy a few days ago said anything.

"You were, too!" Perona retaliated, eyes narrowed. "You were sulking because you met Dad and he beat you! I joined because I—" She stopped abruptly, eyes lighting up as she zeroed in on Zoro's hair. She grinned and reached up to grab at it with a squeal. "Awwww! Look at you! You have green hair!"

"Hey! Stop that!" Zoro insisted, trying to pull her hands out of his hair.

"I always knew you liked the green! Why didn't you tell me?" Perona pouted.

"Because then you'd never dye it green again!" Zoro protested. So that was interesting. She dyes Zoro's hair for him? Wait. Did she say Dad earlier? Was she...?

"I totally would dye it green more often because I thought you actually looked kinda cute with it that color!" Perona insisted.

"I AM NOT _CUTE_." Zoro protested, cheeks starting to redden.

Perona gasped, "Is my baby brother embarrassed?" she teased in a baby voice. Yup. She was Zoro's sister.

" _She's_ your older _sister_!?" Sanji gasped.

"YOU SHUT UP." Zoro snarled "And don't you even _think_ about flirting with her!"

Perona grabbed Zoro's face and pulled him back, cradling his cheek against her own. She patted the side of his head 'comfortingly' "Awww. There, there. It's okay to be all embarrassed."

"Perona, quit it!" Zoro ordered, cheeks reddening even more as she continued to baby talk him.

"It's not like I'm going to tell them _every_ embarrassing story I know about you." Perona feigned before finally releasing Zoro.

The swordsman immediately took several steps away from her. "Don't you fucking dare." He hissed.

Perona winked and stuck her tongue out at him "I'm just teasing you. It's my job as your big sister to embarrass you, after all."

"God you're so annoying." Zoro grumbled.

"What was that?" Perona put her hand to her eat and leaned forward "Did you say you want your hair to be peach again?"

Zoro froze. "I said you are the best big sister a brother could ever ask for." He amended robotically. Sabo had to wonder just what the arrangement between the two of them was that had put Perona in charge of what color Zoro's hair was.

"That's better." Perona allowed. "So these are your friends?"

Zoro sighed before reluctantly introducing them with a half-hearted gesture. "Everyone, meet Perona. Perona, meet everyone."

"Now come on, moping around isn't cute. You should introduce them properly." Perona scolded. "I know Usopp, but what about everyone else?"

Zoro sighed again before going down the line and giving everyone else's names.

"Nice to finally meet the people Zoro can call his friends." She smiled before frowning "I hope you guys are more useful than my crew. I knew holding an open audition was a terrible idea. All I ended up with is a bunch of idiots. They've all got their shadows stolen and the other half of them have already died. They are completely useless. Maybe if the creeps stopped throwing themselves at my feet, they'd get something done for once." Perona huffed.

"Shadows stolen, yoi?" Fen asked.

"Yeah. Keep and eye on your crew because people tend to… disappear." Perona warned. "And when they show up later their shadows are gone. I think the big boss of the event has got a devil fruit that allows him to steal shadows."

"What's the point of taking people's shadows, I wonder?" Sabo pondered as Perona skipped back to Cerberus.

"Your guess is as good as mine." Perona scratched the center head of Cerberus behind the ears as the other heads nuzzled her affectionately. On closer inspection, the beast appeared to be more like one of Frankenstein's Monsters than a guardian of hell. The beast was just a hideous mass of blue and yellow rotting flesh that left Sabo scrunching up his nose. The beast was marked with the number 82. What was the significant of that number? Sabo wasn't quite sure how he felt about the zombie Frankenstein dog yet. Perona climbed onto it's back and gazed down at them. "Was there anyone back on my ship?"

"Not that we noticed." Ace informed her.

Perona groaned in frustration. "So my crewmembers aren't here, either? Ugh. I hate this. I just want to meet the guy that's like dad but isn't, not baby-sit a bunch of perverted idiots. Let's just go." Perona nudged Cerberus forward, prompting the beast to plod back into the shadows. "You guys coming? We might as well work together, yeah?"

"Please no." Zoro begged.

"Aww does the little moss not want to travel around with his lovely big sister?" Sanji teased.

"I will _gut_ you." Zoro snapped.

"We're going," Luffy commanded before looking up at Perona, "Hey, can I ride?" Luffy asked, climbing up onto Cerberus without waiting for consent. "Shishishi this guy is awesome! I wonder what other kinds of creatures we'll find on this island."

* * *

A/N: And that's a wrap.

So that's the beginning of Thriller Bark. I didn't get to Brook's introduction this chapter like I'd wanted to, but i'll definitely get to it for next chapter.

The Pirate Certificate from MIT is a legit thing, by the way.

Coffee Fren: By twist I mean a lot of things. Some of which you saw in this chapter. Others will be in the next. Got big things planned for the post event content. Kuma won't be showing up, but... well... You'll just have to wait and see ;)

Wordlet: Welcome back to reviewing! Your wild theories always put a smile on my face. (I did see your big bang! Congratz on completing such an ambitious project.)

MissJenca: Outlook is a total jerk. I hate him, but I hate Stelly more. Stelly should actually be making an appearance in the (probably distant) future.

Thank you all for your Follows, Favorites, and Reviews! They all mean a lot to me! You all are lovely.

Next Chapter: We actually get Thriller Bark! xD


	9. Ch 9: Thriller Bark Prt 2

A/N: Sorry for the delay! This chapter was a bitch to write. This is 65% of the reason why i skipped writing out Alabasta or Skypeia. This shits hard and managing 12+ characters from one point of view is tough. There's stuff in Thriller Bark here that needs to be said, though, so i'd opted for including it.

Without further ado:

* * *

 **Chapter Nine**

Sabo dashed through the hallways of the castle, the sound of footsteps echoing loudly in his ears. They were not his own footsteps, no. His own footsteps were rather quiet even when in full sprint and they'd hardly echo as loudly as these… mostly because it was more than just one set of footsteps. No, these footsteps belonged to the dozens and dozens of heavily armed zombies chasing after him.

"Ah, fuck." Sabo grunted as he slammed into a door that refused to open. Locked. Just what he needed. "I really need to stop hanging out with Kid so much," Sabo mused as he peeled himself off the door, "or else I'll be cussing left and right all over again. Can't have that around Luffy." Sabo reminded himself as he resumed his sprint down the hallway. He turned a corner to the left "Luffy already said the bitch word earlier, we don't need him saying fuck, too. He's still, like, twelve. He's not allowed to cuss." Sabo irrationalized.

Sabo tried another door and let out a soft cry of relief as it opened. He slipped inside and pushed the heavy door shut once more. He searched the room for something he could barricade the door with. He spotted a tall, heavy, bookshelf to his right. "Perfect." Sabo wedged himself into the space between the ornate bookshelf and the wall, thankful that the bookshelf had corners much too extravagant to allow the shelf to be flush with the wall. He propped one foot up on the bookshelf and pushed, pressing his back into the wall behind him before he lifted his other foot and pressed it against the bookshelf as well and began to shimmy his way to the top. He could already hear, more like feel the vibrations of their footsteps, the zombies catching up to him through the wall. Always so noisy. Sabo reached the top, planting his feet against the top edge of the bookshelf. He grit his teeth and gave one hard shove with every muscle in his body. The bookshelf tipped off the ground. He shifted his arms, his hands replacing his elbows against the wall with careful maneuvering. His fingers dug into the stone as he lay suspended in the air, supported only by a shifting bookshelf and the wall behind him. Sabo bent his knees slightly to lesson the angle of the bookshelf's tilt for momentum before he gave a second push, throwing his entire body into the effort. The bookshelf's center of gravity shifted enough to send the large, ornate piece of furniture crashing to the ground, scattering some of its contents onto the floor. Sabo's body followed the bookshelf's arc as he fell, landing on its side in a crouch.

All of that commotion was sure to bring attention to his position, but Sabo wished them luck in trying to break in. His eye caught sight of one of the books that had fallen off the shelf when it had hit the ground, "Ooo Oliver Twist." He picked it up and dusted off the cover. Sabo never would have guessed that there were books that came from the real world within One Piece. Before letting himself get too distracted, Sabo turned to look at the room he'd barricaded himself into in order to see if he'd be stuck here or not. Something he probably should have done before tipping a bookshelf in front of what could have possibly been his only exit. He could always make an exit, of course, which was something that he figured he might end up having to do judging by the horde of zombies standing on the other side of the room.

"Aw hell." Sabo groaned. There was a crash as one of the zombies pursuing him rammed into the door behind him, jostling the bookshelf and startling him. "Ace just had to go and disappear like that. If he were still _here_ none of this would be an issue." Sabo pulled the pipe from his back and let one end rest on the ground, book disappearing from his hand and into his inventory. If they were all just regular zombies, then this would all be a breeze but these guys were tougher than the ones in the graveyard had been. Zombie Generals or whatever they were called. They were still nothing Sabo couldn't handle with relative ease.

A fat, armored zombie wielding an axe in his left hand and carrying a shield in the other rushed Sabo with surprising speed. Sabo dashed forward to meet the zombie in the middle because getting caught with his back against the wall was not something Sabo particularly wanted. It was easier to dodge that way, even if he risked getting completely surrounded. Sabo struck first, forcing the zombie to block his first attack with its shield. The zombie made a swipe at him with its axe and Sabo jumped back several steps to doge the next several strikes. Sabo remained on the defensive from there, picking up on patterns in the AI's attack cycle. It was a rather simple algorithm, Sabo learned, and he took advantage of it.

"One…" Sabo counted under his breath, stepped back to avoid a slash to the right. "Two…" Sabo stepped right to avoid a downward slash to the left. "Three…" Sabo ducked to dodge the swipe to the right. "Four…" Sabo rolled left to avoid the downward strike. "Five…" Sabo leapt from his crouch and into a back spring to avoid the shield thrust towards him. "Six." Sabo shifted his momentum forwards, leaping up to grab the rim of the shield in its momentary pause before it could be retracted, taking Sabo along with it. "Dragon's Talons!" Sabo's right hand was coated in haki with a blue flashed, fingers locking into his Dragon Talon stance. He thrust his right hand forward, adding his own force to the momentum provided by the retracting motion of the shield. His hand met the zombie's helmet with a crunch that threw the Zombie's head backwards and tumbling to the ground. Sabo squeezed his fingers, feeling the metal give way like clay in his hands before smashing the zombie's skull into the ground. These mid-ranged enemies always had predictable attack patterns. Easy to defeat in a one-on-one or even in groups of four, but when there got to be too many of them it became a hassle. Like now.

The rest of the zombies all rushed him at once now that the lone zombie had tested Sabo. Regardless, Sabo knew that the zombie he'd just taken down would just be getting back up again soon. There was no way to defeat these guys. None at all. It was more and a little bit frustrating.

Sabo glanced over the dusty, cobweb filled bedroom and wondered if breaking the floor would be a good or terrible idea. It didn't look like he'd have time for it anyway. Either way, staying where he was was not presenting good odds for his survival. At least he knew that there was another set of doors on the other side of the room now.

Blocking a sword stoke with his pipe, Sabo drove the weapon upward so that he could duck beneath the blade and inside the Zombie's reach. He slammed his shoulder into the opponent zombie to make it stumble before dodging the strike of a club to the spot where he'd just been standing. Seeing a possibly terrible idea, Sabo stepped onto the club and ran it up to the zombie's shoulder as it was lifted once more. "There we go!" Sabo grinned, now above the horde of zombies. "Much easier to handle. Sabo bounced from one Zombie head to another, thankful that they'd all been so packed together to 'prevent' his escape. Too bad they hadn't expected him to get above them as he practically danced across the crowd, dodging swipes and grabs at his feet and legs with grace. He had to admit that balancing was difficult and the zombies kept squirming and moving around because obviously no one likes it when you stand on their faces.

"Oh!" Sabo grunted in fake surprise "you almost got me!" Sabo grinned, switching from one foot to another as a zombie grabbed at his ankle and he batted them away with his pipe.

"Rude! Usin' mah face like dat," The zombie beneath him drawled.

"I wont apologize because I'm far from sorry." Sabo smirked, purposefully digging his heel into the zombie's face before launching into a backflip. He landed on his hands on the shoulders of another zombie "Excu~se me." he hummed, flipping back onto his feet and landing on the ground. He was finally on the other side of the zombie horde. "It was a pleasure meeting you all, but I've really got to be on my way." Sabo tipped his hat with a smile before dashing out of the room and to the right down the hallway.

Sabo barely made it five steps before something wrapped around his torso, pulling his arms tight to his sides and yanking him upwards by the feet. Sabo narrowly missed smashing his forehead into the ground, but he most certainly did lose his hat again. God damn it.

"Put me down!" Sabo demanded as he tried to thrash, only to find that his arms and legs were all thoroughly trapped in… was that web? Oh god was he wrapped in spider webs? He felt legs crawling across his body and wasn't sure if he was imagining the sensation or not, but then a spider-mouse hybrid came into view, staring down at him with it's buggy eyes and giving him a full-tooth grin. Oh god no not spiders.

"Master Moria has big plans for you!" it snickered as it climbed up the spider silk rope.

"Moria?" Sabo froze, quickly connecting the dots "Do you mean—?" He was cut off as a container slammed shut on from either side of him. He heard the sound of spiders crawling across the surface and he felt his own skin crawl at the sound. Next thing he knew he felt as though he were falling before the end of the container where his head was got yanked upright so that he was no longer hanging upside with his blood rushing to his brain. There was a click above him and then the container began to sway. Sabo assumed that this meant he was now moving. Sabo pushed his forehead against what he hoped was the lid of the container to see if it would budge, but nothing. How was he supposed to get out of this? Is this where everyone had been disappearing to?

Despite not being able to see anything to begin with, Sabo still closed his eyes and took a deep breath in order to calm himself. He counted himself lucky to not be claustrophobic. "Okay, Sabo." He whispered "From the beginning."

As far as Sabo knew, Ace was the only one that had disappeared for sure. But he hadn't seen much of anyone else since he, Franky, Perona, and Fen were split up in the dance hall thanks to the general zombies. He'd run into Ace and Zoro, but Ace had vanished and Zoro had gotten lost? Or had he vanished, too? Probably the later if he was honest. Damn. He'd also seen Luffy for a brief moment from across a spider web covered broken bridge. There was someone with him that Sabo didn't know. He couldn't recall if he'd seen a cursor or not above the tall man's giant Afro, so it was unclear whether or not he was a player or an AI. Sabo was completely clueless about the status of the rest of the party.

And what were the mice saying? Master Moria? Moria was a familiar name. Where did he know it? Warlord? Most likely. Yes. Definitely Warlord. Perona had said that the big boss of the island stole shadows. That must mean that Moria had a devil fruit dealing with shadows. Moria. One of the seven warlords of the sea just like Crocodile and Mihawk had been. Did this mean that Moria would be another one of those complex AI? Well, it was a good thing that Sabo was on his way to see him now. At least, that's what Sabo was assuming. Where else would they be taking him?

Sabo's head knocked against the front of the container and he cursed. His container dropped from wherever it had been dangling and Sabo groaned as his everything slammed against every side of the container as it tumbled to the ground. What the hell? Was he being tossed down the stairs or something? Jesus.

The lid of the container opened and Sabo realized that he had actually been confined within a coffin the entire time if the shape of the lid was anything to go by. They couldn't have saved this event for Halloween? Talk about missed opportunities.

Now that coffin lids or zombies weren't obstructing Sabo's view, he found himself staring at a giant, hulking… shallot? Sabo couldn't shake the imagery now that he'd seen it. The man was a giant fat-ass onion. Sabo gave an obligatory struggle to test the web wrapped around his torso as the, Sabo hesitated to call him a man, reached for him with his gloved hands. The shallot-man had a menacing grin stretched across his pale face as he picked Sabo up.

"So you're Moria, huh? A warlord?" Sabo asked, staring right into the warlord's eyes as he was brought eye level with him.

"Kiiiishishishishi, how astute of you," the large warlord laughed, dangling Sabo from the web binding his torso.

"So you're the one that's been going around stealing people's shadows." Sabo stated, narrowing his eyes "It'll only be a matter of time before we kick your ass, you know." That had gotten a rise out of Eneru so he wondered if it would work on Moria.

"You can't do a lot of ass kicking when you're tied up like that, now, can you?" Moria pointed out. Nope didn't work.

"Oh shut it, you shallot." Sabo rebuked, mentally high-fiving himself for rhyming.

"What did you just call me!?" Moria hissed. Sabo could swear he saw the shadow-shallot's forehead veins starting to pop.

"You know damn well what I just called you." Sabo replied, smirking against his better judgment considering his predicament. It probably wasn't a bright idea to smack talk and poke Moria's buttons while he was tied up like this.

"Spotlight!" Moria commanded and a light _shunked_ on behind Sabo, casting his shadow across the tiled floor before him. "You're a real cheeky brat, aren't you?" The giant shallot peered down at him, wide grin never leaving his pale, stitched-up face despite the obvious irritation in his eyes.

"And you're a real eyesore. The ugliest shallot I've ever seen. I'd throw you out if you were in my kitchen." Sabo jabbed back because why not? Don't do it half way.

Moria's smile dropped into a scowl and Sabo smirked once more, unable to help feeling proud of himself for being solely responsible for wiping that grin from Moria's face. The warlord reached down, gloved hands touching at the wisps of hair at the top of his shadow's head. "You're going to regret being a smart ass with me, boy." Moria yanked and, like duct tape from skin, Sabo's shadow began to peel off of the tiles. Sabo looked on in odd fascination, wondering just what the implications of all of this was. What was the point of stealing shadows? Where did the shadows go? What did the shadows do? Sabo had too many questions and not enough answers.

There was a tug at Sabo's feet and he squirmed slightly, feeling himself being dragged towards Moria by the shadow as the shallot man pulled it taught. The web snapped and he hit the ground with a grunt, feet still suspended in the air by his shadow.

"Y'know? I think I liked it better when my victims screamed in terror." Moria confessed as he took the pair of shears offered to him by a zombie servant.

"What's the point of struggling? It's just a waste of energy." Sabo sneered "I know when it's better to bide my time." He watched as Moria opened the shears and fit them close to Sabo's feet and snipped.

Sabo didn't know what he'd expected to happen the moment his shadow was severed from his body, but it wasn't this. It wasn't the gaping sense of loss. It wasn't the emptiness that filled his chest. If soul mates were real, he'd imagine them dying to feel a lot like this. Like half his soul had been carved from his body and stolen from him. And then... everything went black.

* * *

When Sabo woke up, it was to the sound of something to do with Dragons. He'd half expected to be lying in bed, staring up at the popcorn-textured ceiling of his own bedroom, but instead all he was met with was a hardwood floor to his face. There weren't any hardwood floors in their house. Sabo wiggled his hands beneath his chest and heaved his tired, sore, muscles in order to lift his torso off the ground. "Did someone say there's dragons?" He mumbled, staring blearily at his gloved hands and recognizing that he was still in the virtual world. He had no idea that you could sleep in the virtual world. It had never crossed his mind. He looked up, blinking a few times and not full comprehending whom all was in the room with him yet because he was still groggy.

There were four people standing in the room, which Sabo eventually recognized to be the kitchen of the Thousand Sunny. One of them was that man he'd seen with Luffy earlier that he didn't know. Judging by the sideways glances occasionally cast from the others in the room, no one else really knew who he was yet either. The other three standing before him were Fen, Usopp, and Franky.

There was a groan from beside him and Sabo turned, shifting into a half lotus position on the ground as he watched Ace reach out for something (probably his pillow) and muttered "five more minutes…" After a few pats on the ground with no pillow coming into contact with his lazy hands, Ace opened his eyes. He blinked once before abruptly sitting up "Shit! My shadow!" Ace scrambled to his feet and made a wild dash for the door, only to be grabbed by the shoulders and stopped by Fen.

"There will be time for that later, Rage." Fen assured the fire user and Ace reluctantly relaxed, taking a step back once more.

"I can't believe that bastard! I'm gonna kick his ass into next week!" Luffy proclaimed, jumping to his feet and punching the air. He was practically blowing steam out of his nostrils in anger.

"I can't believe I got myself caught like that." Zoro scowled from Sabo's left. Sabo turned to look at him as the swordsman gripped the hilt of one of the swords at his side. "I really let my guard down."

"And I can't believe that your method of waking them up was better than mine." Franky remarked, glancing at Usopp, who was looking rather smug. Sabo wondered what tactics they had tried before recalling that something about Dragons had woken him up and he frowned. Was that really all that it took? And what had Franky tried?

"I do believe that we have some things to discuss with everyone now that your friends are awake." The tall, lanky, dark-skinned stranger announced from the kitchen doorway.

"Ah! Brook! You're here!" Luffy grinned, "You're still joining my crew, right?"

"Of course!" Brook gasped, as if he were horrified that Luffy could suggest that he might have changed his mind.

"Good! Shishishi." Luffy ushered the man outside, Franky and Usopp looking awfully surprised as they left.

"He… he asked him to join?" Usopp asked. "He never asks anyone to join. You don't _have_ a choice with Luffy."

"Guys! This is our new crewmate!" Luffy shouted, jumping over the railing outside the kitchen and dropping down to the grassy deck below. Fen, Ace, Franky, and Usopp all followed Luffy out, prompting Sabo and Zoro to both stand and join them outside. "He's a musician and a swordsman! I found him in a graveyard humming as he fought with the zombies! It was really cool and guess what? He knows how to kill them!"

Sabo's interest was peaked and he turned his gaze to the Afro sporting man "So you've figured out how to defeat them?" He asked as he descended the stairs.

Brook craned his neck to look up at Sabo, following his descent as he confirmed "Why, yes! All it takes is a pinch of salt in their mouths and wha-la! Deader than dead. You see, the zombies here on this island are created with the shadows of those that Master Moria steals." Quite the energetic man, Sabo noted. He wondered what sorts of instruments the man played.

"So that's why he wants our shadows." Zoro concluded as the two of them reached the bottom of the stairs and rejoined the group.

"Exactly!" Brook confirmed.

"So he takes our shadows and shoves them into the corpses that Doctor Hogback stitches together! That's how he brings them back to life!" Perona exclaimed.

It took a moment for Sabo to recall who Doctor Hogback was, but he remembered back to their time in the forest when everything had initially went to hell. It had started with zombie trees having a barbeque with some zombie unicorns and Luffy accusing his brothers of lying to him by saying that trees couldn't cook in One Piece. How the hell was he supposed to know there were zombie trees that could cook? After that Luffy, Perona, and Franky just had to try and catch the zombie unicorns as pets. Zoro, Sabo, and Ace had gone in pursuit. Cerberus turned on the main group because Perona was gone. A horde of zombies in a graveyard attacked Zoro, Sabo, and Ace, separating Sabo from the Luffy pursuit team. He met up with Fen when the phoenix had spotted him from the sky. They had gotten picked up in a carriage by a vampire, reuniting them with Perona and Franky. They were taken to the castle to meet Doctor Hogback but when they'd gotten there they were greeted by a plate-throwing, zombie woman denying them entrance to the castle. Perona was safe, though. She got in just fine. It's just that apparently all men were scum. They'd just broken the door down to get in later anyway. Sabo had yet to personally meet Doctor Hogback, however.

The sound of Perona's voice slowly brought Sabo back into the conversation "…yone who's watched Supernatural would know that," She finished, flipping one of her twin tails back over her shoulder. Woops, people were talking. This was a discussion. What were they talking about?

"But more than that!" the musician proclaimed.

"Salt come from the sea." Fen finished as Sabo broke down the conversation based on context clues. Salt. Salt beats zombies. Someone asked about the salt. Salt is traditionally involved with the occult. Supernatural. Okay. Back on track.

"Exactly!" Brook confirmed, pushing his sunglasses higher up the bridge of his nose. "The salt acts as the agent to removing the shadows from the bodies of the zombies with ease."

"And how exactly did you figure that out?" Sanji asked, starting up the stairs to the kitchen.

"Ah! It was purely by stoke of luck. I overheard them talking in the kitchen about the preserved fish and at first I thought that maybe the fish was their weakness, but, alas, I was incorrect! It was the salt _on_ the fish. So I raided the kitchens as soon as they were gone and, oddly enough, found a giant bag of it just lying around." Brook laughed in a unique 'yohohoho' style as he swiped his hand to open up his menu system "So there's no need for you to use your own supplies, Mr Cook." he selected something from his inventory and a heavy-looking bag of sal materialized in his arms. "I have plenty of salt right here."

"Oh, wow. That is a lot of salt." Ace remarked. "Convenient I suppose, though."

"Feels like those old Zelda games where the weapon to defeat the boss is just conveniently in a chest inside the required temple." Sabo reminisced.

"Hand it here." Usopp prompted, holding out his hands.

The scrawny man dropped the bag into Usopp's arms "Well it was locked inside a room with chains and caution tape. They couldn't have made it more obvious." He shrugged as Usopp examined the bag of salt for a moment, bouncing it in his arms lightly with an evaluating stare.

Usopp set the bag down on the grassy deck and declared "Be right back." before throwing open the hatch and dropping below deck.

"Okay, so." Zoro began, "Sabo, Ace, Luffy, and I have had our shadows stolen."

"And me!" Brook added. Sabo glanced down for a second and saw that that was indeed the case, not that he had any doubts.

"And Nami and Chopper are missing." Sanji pointed out, fitting a cigarette between his lips but not lighting it as he rejoined the group on deck.

"Don't worry. I know where they are." Fen informed them, Usopp reemerging from below deck with an armful of supplies. "Though I can't confirm their safety. They may have been compromised but who knows. They're currently doing recon in the tower at the mast. Said that they were onto something big and that they wanted to check it out."

"A.K.A. she found the treasure vault." Usopp commented. "Because I doubt she'd be following Moria."

"And you didn't go with them?" Sanji accused the phoenix.

"They'll be fine." Fen dismissed.

"In any case, we should make it our priority to find out which zombies have our shadows and get them all back." Ace pointed out as Usopp lay out a mat and sat down on it with the bag of salt and began to tinker. So beyond being a sniper, he was also a craftsman of some sort? Smart.

"I agree, but the easiest way to go about that is to find Moria and take him out. All of this shadow business can be solved just by beating him." Luffy pointed out.

"He has a point." Franky agreed.

"But we can't forget about my crew." Perona reminded them. "I still want to find them even if they are perverted idiots that can't do anything right."

"We also have to keep in mind that, as I understand it, if you're missing your shadow you can't be exposed to sunlight because if you do, you die. With the accelerated day-night cycles that we experience here in One Piece that could pose a problem." Brook informed them.

"So we're definitely going to have to split up." Zoro concluded.

"There's ten of us here and since I know where Nami and Chopper were headed, I'll track them down and see what they found. That leaves the rest of you to split up into three groups, one group to go after Moria, one group to look for Perona's crew, and the other to go after the zombies with our shadows." Fen proposed. "It would be helpful if we knew what your guy's zombies looked like to determine how to distribute the numbers, though."

"I've met my shadow!" Brook announced. "He's quite the swordsman. His body belonged to the legendary Ryuma from the Kingdom of Wano in the new world. He's got my laugh so he's pretty easy to find, but since he'd got my shadow he's using fencing techniques despite wielding a katana."

"I got dibs on that team." Zoro declared. "So you fence then?"

"Indeed." Brook confirmed.

"Then we should spar sometime. I mainly practice kendo, but I've also been taught how to fence so I'd love to have a match." Zoro challenged.

"Whenever you'd like to spar, I will be free to do so." Brook accepted as Usopp began distributing smaller bags of salt to everyone present.

"Oh! Book and I met Zoro's shadow!" Luffy blurted, fist meeting the flat of his other hand. "He looked just like you! Kinda talked like you, too. But… he was kinda weird. I think he was wearing a tutu and clogs... but he was definitely acting just like you!"

"Aw hell." Zoro groaned with a scowl.

"What about my shadow? Anyone seen it?" Ace asked.

"Usopp and I might have, but honestly I don't exactly know you well enough to say for sure and it was only in passing." Sanji revealed. "We were kinda in a rush."

"I might have met him, too. I think what gave it away were the attempts at using fire fist attacks." Franky revealed. "And considering the fact that, if I remember right, you're known as Fire Fist Rage, I kinda figured it was you."

"Yeah. Fire Fist Rage is me." Ace confirmed.

"If that's the case, then definitely. It was your shadow. For reference, he looks like a pretty standard zombie but all he's wearing is shorts and a red bowtie and he's got this Frankenstein screw thing going on on his head." Usopp described as he sat back down and began working on something else with the salt.

"So pretty much, look for the zombie that looked like you did when you were dropped off after that bachelor party last month." Sabo mused.

Ace laughed "Oooh that was a great night." Ace reminisced with a laugh. Getting plastered and stripping for a crowd was not Sabo's idea of fun, but whatever floats his boat. "So what does that leave us with? Just Sabo and Luffy's shadows unaccounted for?" Ace asked, rubbing his hands together.

Everyone looked around the circle, shrugging before Fen concluded "We'll just have to keep a look out for them, then. How're we going to be splitting up?"

"I've already said I'm going after Brook's shadow." Zoro reminded them.

"Ryuma tends to patrol the grounds and I think I know where he might be headed next so I'll be going with him." Brook offered.

"Do that. Moss head will get lost without someone holding his hand." Sanji smirked.

"Shut up, Shit Cook." Zoro snarled.

"I'm going to go looking for my crew in the dark creepy forest. Who's going with me?" Perona asked.

"I will go with you, _mademoiselle._ " Sanji volunteered. Sabo did not miss the critical glare Zoro was giving Sanji.

Sanji apparently didn't either "I'm not going to flirt with your sister, you shit swordsman. I'm just doing my duty to serve the ladies." Sanji explained.

Perona gave a grunt of distaste "Let me guess? Another pervert then. Usopp. You're coming, too."

"Well I was going to volunteer anyway because I'd take the creepy forest over surprise zombie hell any day." Usopp accepted.

"If anyone has a weapon I can use that's better than my parasol that'd be great." Perona asked, spinning the umbrella perched on her shoulder for emphasis.

"I can lend you my knife?" Ace offered tentatively. No one else offered anything,

Perona sighed "Never mind. I'll just stick to defending myself with an umbrella. I'd prefer not getting any closer to zombies than I have to."

"I'm kicking Moria's ass so I'm going straight there. If I find my shadow's zombie on the way that's bonus points." Luffy declared.

"Oh, no. I'm the one that's going to be doing the ass kicking." Ace denied. "I'm the one that's going to fight Moria."

"I'm the captain! I'm fighting Moria!" Luffy childishly justified.

Ace gave Luffy a very pointed look.

"… okay Ace can come, but I want Sabo to come, too, then." Luffy allowed.

"Fair enough." Sabo agreed.

"While I'm meeting up with Nami and Chopper I'll see what information I can gather on Sabo or Luffy's shadows. If I come across anything else important I'll let you all know. I'm not exactly inconspicuous in the air, but it's not like they don't know we're coming."

"Well, it looks like I'm going with Zoro-bro and the musician since that evens things out rather nicely." Franky concluded.

"Where should we plan on making our meeting place?" Fen asked. "Since we can't communicate with each other through the messaging system on this island it would be smart to have a regrouping location."

"The courtyard in front of the main tower?" Sabo offered.

"Any objections to that?" Fen asked.

All present shook their heads or voiced their consent to the plan.

"Alright. Looks like we've got ourselves a shitty plan." Ace resolved. "Let's do this."

* * *

Like all plans, it was doomed to fail from the start. It was only natural that, not five minutes after they'd parted ways, the side of the castle exploded outwards to reveal a hulking beast that would throw everything into chaos.

The three brothers came to a screeching halt. Sabo's gaze shot upwards and his jaw went slack as he watched would could only be described as a demon-ogre-thing several times larger than the giants of One Piece emerged from the tallest spire of the castle. He caught a glimpse of blue fire dodging the resulting rain of rubble and realized that Nami and Chopper were supposed to be in that tower.

"WOAH!" Luffy gasped, "it's huge!"

And then the zombie spoke.

"My fingers are the talons that will tear down the establishment!" it roared.

Shit.

"Welp. We found your shadow." Ace smirked, punching Sabo lightly on the arm.

"I have never said that, you have no proof." Sabo denied.

"Well it's hardly Luffy, and maybe you should make sure that no one can hear you before you start talking to yourself in the bathroom mirror." Ace smirked.

"Shut up." Sabo rubbed his face with both his hands, hoping that his cheeks weren't as red as he felt they were.

"C'mon," Ace chided, "Don't even try to pretend that you don't fantasize about overthrowing governments." He teased "You go to revolutionary war re-enactments… _in costume_. You _participate_ in them. You watch _Les Mis_ , like, every week."

"It's not _every week_ " Sabo insisted. He hadn't watched it in months (and now he really wanted to), but there had been a time in his life where he might have watched it more than once a week. It was years ago, though. "Besides. Even though the movie has a revolution in it that's not what it's all about."

" _Do You Hear The People Sing?_ Is your anthem. I catch you singing it all the time. It's your favorite part of the movie. Point still stands." Okay so Sabo couldn't argue that. "You tried to kill the king in Alabasta because there was finally a government you thought you were allowed to overthrow in One Piece. We almost failed the event! Killing the king was the exact _opposite_ of the objective."

And okay so Sabo had gone a little bit more overboard than he'd previously let on. "Technicalities." Sabo dismissed.

"Woah, woah, woah wait. You tried to kill Vivi's dad?" Luffy interrupted.

"Who's Vivi?" Sabo and Ace both asked simultaneously.

"Jinx you owe me a coke." Ace muttered instinctively.

"She was the princess of Alabasta!" Luffed explained, looking exasperated.

"We never met Vivi." Ace replied.

"Then how did you find out Croco-man's plans?" Luffy furrowed his eyebrows.

"Um… Fen saw Mr. 2 pretending to be the king," Sabo offered. "How did _you_ find out?"

"We met Vivi!" Luffy huffed as if that should have been obvious. "She was an undercover agent in Croco-man's gang and I _really_ wanted her to join my crew… but she was an AI…" he frowned. "I wonder if she's still there even though the event is over…" he drifted off in thought for just a second before perking up once more "in any case, I'm glad that Brook could join!"

Sabo flagged that bit of information for later exploration. Was Luffy implying that Book was an AI? But that made zero sense considering everything that he'd seen of the tall man. He definitely had to be a player otherwise he wouldn't have access to the menu system. The common denominator leading from Vivi to Book as points of conversation must have been that Brook was the most recent person Luffy had decided he wanted on his crew. Sabo decided then that he wouldn't worry about it and removed the mental pin from that piece of information.

"Anyway." Ace cut in. "How do you suppose we deal with _that_?" he asked, gesturing vaguely towards the giant creature with both hands as it climbed it's way up the mast.

"That's… a good question." Sabo replied unhelpfully. He caught sight of Fen flying once more, looking like a tiny gnat in comparison to the zombie. There was a cloud of small black… bats? Flying out of the hole in the side of the castle and towards the phoenix but they passed through Fen's body harmlessly

"Hey!" Luffy protested "No fair! I'm the one who's supposed to fight Moria!" Luffy took off in a sprint, heading for the stairs leading up to the bridge that crossed to the tower.

"Luffy! Wait up!" Sabo called out, reaching out as if he could stop Luffy that way, but no no avail.

"Tch, Let's just follow him. It's better than loosing him." Ace decided. Sabo nodded and the two of them chased after their little brother.

Sabo shifted his gaze between making sure that he didn't trip on rubble, watching his zombie climb its way to the top of the mast, and watching Fen as he combated the bats before diving into the castle and out of sight. There were some still-visible flares of blue and gold flames however.

"This fog's so think you can't see anything!" a booming voice drawled from high above them. "Should probably get the ship out of this fog as soon as possible. Hmmm…. Forty degrees! It's lighter in that direction. It must be clear there."

"Wait. Fuck. If he. Shit." Ace ran a bit faster to catch up with Luffy. Sabo could second those curses as he ran a bit faster as well. "Luffy! We need to take out Sabo's zombie!"

"But Moria!" Luffy insisted.

"But my zombie is going to shift the course of the ship! We need to stop him! If we don't we'll get exposed to sunlight and that'll be it! We fail the mission!" Sabo reminded him.

Luffy looked a little torn "Fine. Then you two go after the giant and I'll go kick Moria's ass. I can't let Fen have all the fun." Luffy finalized. "I have a serious bone to pick with that shadow-guy. He really pissed me off."

Sabo had to do a double take at the tone of Luffy's voice and the serious look on his face. He hadn't see Luffy this intense and angry at something in a very long time. In fact, Sabo was sure that the only time he'd ever seen Luffy like this was when he'd found out that one of the students on his community soccer team was being bullied and boy was Luffy pissed off then. People learned pretty quickly that Luffy was quite protective of all of the kids that he watched over at the elementary school.

"What did he do to you?" Ace asked, looking just as surprised at Luffy's seriousness as Sabo felt.

"I'm sorry. I can't tell you what he did because I promised I wouldn't tell." Luffy replied sincerely, voice still a pitch deeper than it usually was.

"Who? Moria?" Sabo asked because that would be weird.

"No, not Moria." Luffy shook his head as they entered the first of the building connecting the staircase to the castle mast. "But I _can_ say that there's no one on these oceans that will call themselves King of the Pirates but me. That lazy son of a bitch doesn't deserve that kind of title. He's exactly the kind of person that I hate."

"You… know that this is a game, right?" Ace asked tentatively.

"I know it is!" Luffy snapped, "I know that this is a game. I know that he isn't real. I know that none of this is real, but I can't help it because it all _feels so real_. I wont stand for someone who treats their crew the way that I saw him treat his and that _Hogback_ …" Luffy snarled, Hogback's name a curse on his lips. "Gum Gum Grab!" his arms glowed a faint purple before he threw his arms forward, latching onto the doorframe across the room. It was obvious that Luffy was too angry to finish what he'd wanted to say about the doctor. "If you wanna take care of the demon zombie guy then go ahead, but I'm still going after Moria. Gum Gum Rocket!" Luffy's arms faintly glowed once more before his arms retracted, throwing him through the doors and beyond.

"Do we follow or…?" Ace left the question open ended as he turned his gaze to Sabo, slowing to a stop.

Sabo hummed in thought. He opened his mouth to respond but was interrupted by the building crumbling to pieces around them and sending them plummeting towards the bridge below. He hit the stone and he hit it hard. Sabo didn't even want to hazard a glance to see how much of his health had been knocked out by the fall as rubble continued to shatter onto the ground around him. He drew himself up, Ace grabbing onto his arm to help him to his feet. The bastard logia was probably just fine, of course.

"He's a lot bigger than I thought he was." Ace mused as the two of them stared at the giant mass of red flesh standing in the rubble before them. The bridge they were standing on was only just above the zombie's hip. The thing was ginormous. They must look like ants in comparison.

"Okay, so, where…" The zombie drawled "Ah! There it is." The monstrous creature exclaimed before bounding off with incredible dexterity for a creature its size.

"Sabo! Ace!" A voice called out to them and Sabo tore his gaze away from his zombie to find Nami and Chopper standing on the opposite side of the broken bridge, both waving their arms wildly to catch their attention.

"Ah! There you guys are!" Sabo called out, waving back.

"Did you see that!?" Chopper practically squealed.

"It was kind hard to miss!" Ace yelled back.

"We saw Moria shove Sabo's shadow into that thing! It was in a deep freeze to preserve it and when your shadow got absorbed into it it started to come to life just like that!" Nami explained.

"It was terrifying! You could hear as it's heart started beating again! His name is Oars and they say that he was once called the Continent Puller! He was a demon that once terrorized the seas centuries ago!" Chopper explained.

"None of the zombies have any free will! They have to obey every one of Moria's commands! He's creating an entire army!" Nami added.

"Get out of my _WAY_ " Moria's voice cut through the air and Fen plummeted from the sky, smashing into the rocks below. A shadow form of Moria built from bats formed on the ground several yards away from the phoenix. "Oars! Get back here! Listen to your master! You have an important job to do!" The real Moria commanded from the hole in the side of the castle as Oars ambled past.

"How are you going to get out of there!?" Ace asked Nami and Chopper.

"There is no one I call master." Oars denied, ignoring Moria and continuing on his way, presumably to change the course of the island like the zombie had decided to do earlier. It was interesting that the zombie wasn't obedient to Moria when Nami had just said that they have no free will. Did it take time to kick in?

Fen climbed his way out of the phoenix shaped hole in the ground seemingly unscathed, but Sabo couldn't see a health bar to confirm that since the man was too far away. Fen ran a hand through his pineapple hair before settling his other wrist against his hip in his customary slouch, eyeing the shadow clone standing before him.

"We'll figure it out! What about you guys!?" Nami asked.

"Change of plans for us!" Ace called back.

"We'll figure something out!" Sabo added, starting to look for a way down to the courtyard.

"MORIA!" came a familiar shout from within the castle and the shallot-man turned before disappearing from sight. That was definitely Luffy. Seemed he made it there pretty quick.

The sound of slashing swords reached his ears and he turned to his right to find its source. He glanced up to find flashes of light and two forms darting across the rooftops, pieces of building cleaving in two. That was definitely Zoro locked in full combat with Brook's shadow.

It seemed that things were really starting to get chaotic around here.

* * *

A/N: And that's a wrap for this chapter.

Not kidding when I said I had a really hard time with it. Like. This chapter is only 7.5k but I have a document with over 3k words worth of scrapped content. Not a lot happened this chapter but, regardless, there was some important stuff I had to introduce this chapter even if it doesn't seem important.

Thank again for all of your Follows, Favorites, and Reviews! They make my day.

Next chapter: We'll definitely wrap up Thriller Bark. I want to move on to other things. I'm about to start throwing more of the shit that's going to be hitting the fan in a few chapters and I'm excited.


	10. Ch 10: Thriller Bark Prt 3

A/N: Some announcements before we get started here. Next week is going to be busy but i hope to have enough time to work on this. I've got a convention that weekend and I also have to adjust my Sabo cosplay. Need to move the buttons so that the waistcoat fits better and looks cleaner. Hopefully. I hope to have enough time to work on my fic, though. The chapter might be short or a few days late but i'll try to get it to you in a timely manner because when the fall semester starts in late August, I don't know how much free time i'll be able to spare for regular updates (Taking 2D animation, Intro to Comics, and Band-End Computer Programming so lots of projects) but i'll do my best come the time.

Thank you all for your continued support! It means a lot to me :3

So without further ado:

* * *

 **Chapter Ten**

Perhaps scariest part about the Thriller Bark event was the entire system of stolen shadows. Not the zombies or the jump scares that never failed to catch Sabo off guard. Not the creepy dark forest that made Sabo regret every single horror movie Luffy had ever forced him to watch together. No. That was easy to deal with. That wasn't real. But the stolen shadows were disturbing. How, at first, the zombies would seem to act exactly like the player did. Saying the things that you'd said, doing the things you tended to do. It was creepy at best and downright sinister at worst.

At first glance, they seemed to be exact replicas of the player they came from, but over time parts of you began to fade. The ideals, the passions, the independence gone, but the quirks still remained. It was cause enough to give Sabo pause. How had Celestial done it? In essence, a human's consciousness had been digitized and brought into a virtual world so it wasn't too far fetched that they'd be able to duplicate that information and, essentially, make a clone of the player. Was Celestial even allowed to do that? The issue of privacy was still a huge hot button debate and this was practically throwing out red flags at the gate. It felt like it had to be all kinds of illegal. Sabo felt inclined to take an actual look at the Terms of Use Agreement and Privacy Policy to see if there was something about it in there, but the longer he spent with the zombies the more Sabo's opinion about them changed.

If Sabo didn't know what he already knew, he's probably have let the whole matter rest after Thriller Bark. After all, this seemed to be a showcase of how Celestial could duplicate information like a human consciousness and be able to create complex AI. Alright, well if that was the case then it would be simple enough for them to bring a person in, have them jump into the game, make a replica of them, and let them go their merry way before dicking around with the information to create a new boss over the next weeks. But if that was the case, why was John Gremillion dead? That right there was the only bit of information that kept Sabo stubbornly suspicious.

The key difference between the shadows and the bosses was how the shadow's degraded in intelligence and fell back on common AI themes and predictability where the bosses seemed to evolve. After a time it seemed as though they were just like the other zombies in the game, they just had the player's attack style. It became obvious on closer inspection that even if the shadow started off acting like the player, there was still a computer in the background that was calling all of the shots. It was something that became increasingly more obvious the more time you spent with them. The fighting style was spot on, but that was to be expected since it was something ingrained within the system to begin with. But in the area of personality and dialogue, things began to skew.

You could explain away the degradation on rushed replications and immediate integrations. On how there was no tinkering or lengthy development processes. You could point a finger and say "See? The AI in this game aren't people because this is what happens to the data in just a short amount of time." They could spin it any which way that they wanted to, but it did absolutely nothing to quell Sabo's fears because _again_ Why was John Gremillion dead?

If he hadn't already known what he knew now he would have bought it hook, line, and sinker for sure. If he hadn't known that John Gremillion was dead and that Mihawk was just like him. How despite the amount of time that had passed between John's death and Zoro's meeting with the AI, he was still just like him. If he hadn't known about Tashigi and the circumstances of her forced removal from the Boston Police Department and how they'd found John. If he hadn't put together the pieces and seen what might have been the bigger picture… he could have let it all go.

Nothing here seemed out of the ordinary. It was almost as if Thriller Bark was designed specifically with people like him in mine. It was meant to throw them off of Celestial's trail and squash all of their suspicions. Alabasta had seemed just as harmless and it was almost as if the more difficult it was to get into an event, the more questionable the AI became. Monet had even admitted that Skypeia was so hard to get to because the AI had begun to go rogue.

This whole thing was a mess and Sabo needed to collect his proof.

Sabo spun the pipe in his hand before slamming the bottom end of it against the stone floor with a huff, turning away from the final remnants of the spider zombie's body as it finished disintegrating into pixels, it's shadow soul long gone. It had once been possessed by Luffy's shadow and had turned out to be a real pain in the ass. How fitting it was, however, that Luffy's shadow be put into a Monkey. Luffy's zombie had been spreading webs all willy-nilly and getting in everyone's way _all the damn time_. It had gotten so bad that taking him out became priority number one and Sabo had been the one to go after him. Sabo hoped he'd beaten him in time to make it back to help fight Oars.

Speaking of Oars.

Sabo moved to the gaping hole in the wall of the crumbling building that had once been punched through by an uncaring giant zombie possessed by his shadow. On the other side of the castle is where the entire party was gathered and watching the straw hats as they fought Oars back. There was a burst of blue flames as Fen shot up into the sky and, by the looks of it, he was carrying Luffy in his talons as he ascended towards the top of the mast. Sabo wondered what kind of plan they'd cooked up, but if he wanted to make it in time he was going to have to start moving now. They might need his help to fight Moria if they didn't manage to knock him out along side Oars.

Sabo backed away from the edge, mapping a path through the rubble with his eyes before he turned on his heel and started towards the stairs on the other side of the empty room. He didn't even make it five steps before he froze in place, locking eyes with the stranger standing in the room with him. Sabo hadn't even realized someone had been there. He hadn't heard him approach nor had he felt his presence. He wasn't anyone that had been on the island with them, either. Who the hell was he?

"Greetings, dragonlord23." The man nodded. He was dressed in a black suit, sleeves folded up below his elbows, white tie to match around his neck to match the white handkerchief tucked away in his breast pocket, a square mask with diamond shaped eye slits and red markings obscured his face, and a top hat with a red band sat atop his head to finish off the image.

Sabo gripped the pipe in his hand tighter, trying to analyze the man's body language to spot any signs of his intent. "So you know who I am, but who might you be?"

"CP9." The man replied simply.

"CP9?" Sabo had heard of CP9. There weren't many who hadn't heard about Celestial's illustrious, digital police force. What was one of them doing here on Thriller Bark? But if he was here for him, then he had a sneaking suspicion. "To what do I owe the honor?"

There was a long pause before the man responded, "I am here to give you your first warning."

"Warning?" Sabo asked tentatively.

"They know." The man responded after a pause.

Sabo felt as though he'd been dropped into the arctic sea. It was just two words. Two very simple words, but they carried the weight of the world on their shoulders. Sabo's breath caught in his throat and he forgot to breath, fingers gripping the pipe in his hands tight enough to make his knuckles turn white, his mind reeling.

The man continued despite Sabo's growing internal panic, "Stop now, let it go, and they will not have to take action against you."

They knew? Did they know everything? How did they find out that he'd talked to Tashigi? How did they find out? Did someone see them? Did they know he suspected them for killing people and putting them into the game? That he thought bosses like Moria were was once living, breathing, human beings? Sabo would admit he'd been a little sloppy in hindsight. Sloppy before he knew he now should have been watching his step. Did that cost him? There were still so many questions that Sabo needed answered. He couldn't just drop this whole thing like it meant nothing. He couldn't quit now that he'd come this far. Sabo could never live with himself if he stopped now. But they knew? "So tell me, what happens if I don't stop now?" Sabo asked, masking his internal turmoil behind what Sabo hoped was a face of cold calculation.

Another pause. "Your account will be terminated and that will be your final warning." The man informed him.

"And if I don't stop _then_?" Sabo asked tentatively, relaxing his grip on the pipe. Despite being very regrettable, losing his account might be a sacrifice worth making in the long run.

"My purpose if to deal with player avatars, not people. The answer to that question is outside of my domain." The man responded. "CP9 is simply a group of AIs commanded to act as messengers and deal with problematic players. You have been added to Celestial's list and so we find ourselves at this confrontation, but one can assume that the outcome will not be in your favor."

Sabo steeled himself, narrowed his eyes. Uncertainty itched at his insides as he declared, "I won't quit." But should he? But he can't. He was much too stubborn for that. Not when lives hung in the balance.

The man's head tilted up slightly, the light filtering through the diamond shaped slits to illuminate a green eye "You should know better than to play with fire, you only get burned in the end."

It was almost like déjà vu. He remembered back to his meeting with Tashigi and the light burn scars hidden underneath her sleeves. He remembered the words Kid had spoken just the other day. He'd said much the same thing, hadn't he? Sabo knew that the statement had only been a metaphor but he couldn't help how literal they began to sound when he thought about what had happened to John Gremillion and, by extension, Tashigi. Sabo really needed to have a talk with Zoro after this event and definitely not through Celestial channels.

Sabo searched the man's eyes for anything. Any sign of emotion. Any sign of life, but he was only met with a cold stare hidden behind a mask. If there were any emotion there, he wouldn't have been able to see it anyway. There was no reading him, but that might also have been because he was a computer program, emotionless and calculated. But then again, Sabo couldn't help but doubt that even a man as cold as him was simply a computer program. Maybe Sabo was just getting a little too jumpy and suspicious for his own good, but he couldn't help but start questioning everything. Was the man standing before him once living as well?

He'd heard stories of CP9. Their members were all legends, really. Rarely showed up in game play and if they did show up and you were there to witness it, it was never good news. Celestial was a mostly hands off company when it came to the running of One Piece. Players monitored all of the government, economic, and policing systems. NPCs were simply accessories to that end. Even if some of the big shots of the military were NPCs and there were mountains of NPC marine ships sailing the seas and challenging pirates, their actions were all monitored and staged by players giving the commands to focus the NPCs to specific areas or to target specific crews. Celestial didn't do any of it themselves and the players were able to set up their own system of rules and codes of conduct and laws by which to abide. So for Celestial to take matters into their own hands, it had to be for something serious.

CP9 was an entity all of their own. They'd been used by Celestial to take out hackers, cheaters, and exceptionally aggravating trolls (that one had been a difficult line to draw for a game who's selling point happened to be pirating and causing grief for other players was to be expected.) Beyond their existence, no one really knew much about them. All they knew was that when CP9 stepped in, players were assassinated in order to terminate their accounts. They could try and log out before that happened, but from the moment CP9 showed up until the moment your avatar was assassinated, there was no logging out. Sabo had no idea that they gave warnings, too. But, then again, every time he'd heard about CP9 it was in response to a widespread public complaint that had forced Celestial to take action. Never for something like this. Just knowing that hardened Sabo's resolve. This meant that they were scared of him. This meant he was on the right track.

Sabo had only taken his eyes off of the masked man for a second, and he was already gone. He stiffened and lifted his pipe, turning in a circle as he examined the area for any traces of the man. "Consider yourself warned." A voices whispered in his ear from over his shoulder. Sabo snap turned, but the man was already gone again. There was no sign of him anywhere. He should have never let his guard down around that man. It was careless of him, not that he'd have been able to do anything to stop him anyway.

Sabo cursed softly and moved back to the gaping hole in the wall. He was definitely going to be too late to help out with Oars now. He looked up in time to see Luffy plummeting from the sky. What the hell were they doing!?

"I can't move!" Oars complained, struggling against the chain wrapped around his chest and lower half frozen solid.

"THIRD GEAR! BONE BALLOON!" Luffy's voice boomed across the island, his arms expanding to gigantic proportions. Sabo's eyebrows shot up in surprise. Luffy's fighting abilities had certainly come far in the last two months. Sabo had gotten a look at second gear earlier, but this was something else entirely. Wow. How had Luffy even come up with these things? Sabo wondered just how well he or Ace would fair in a fight against their little brother now.

Movement caught Sabo's gaze and he narrowed his eyes, seeing Moria still within Oar's stomach. He couldn't make out any details though. Couldn't tell if he was conscious or not. Regardless, he wasn't done for yet if his shadow was still in Oars. Moria might pose a problem because the straw hats didn't seem to be fairing well last Sabo checked. He better get down there quick and see if they'd still need his help or not.

Opting to ditch the stairs, Sabo leapt from the hole in the wall and dropped two stories to the ground, rolling with the impact to minimize damage before taking off in a run. It probably would have broken his legs in real life, but that was the benefit of the Virtual World.

The dark almost oily looking tendrils quickly creeping across the ground were worrisome. Even more so when they began to pulse like an old cartoony hose sucking up water.

"Now what are we supposed to do!?" Someone shouted and Sabo knew he was getting close.

"We're all a bunch of noobs there's no way we can beat him ourselves." Someone else agreed. Must be from Perona's crew. Then what happened to the straw hats? Was Luffy down now? His stamina gauge must have run dry. Sabo glanced up at his own gauge situated beneath his health one and determined that he'd be fine. But what the hell were Ace and Fen doing if those shmucks from Perona's crew were freaking out?

Sabo slowed to a stop as he rounded some rubble and found himself standing at the back of a scattering of players. He surveyed the situation to get a gauge of what was going on. Luffy was at the front of the crowd, surprisingly tiny and gasping for air. Sabo worried briefly and wondered if turning tiny was a side effect of having gone giant earlier. It seemed like a ridiculously steep punishment by the system in order to balance the power of the attack and limit its use. Unfortunately, it also seemed to completely drain Luffy's stamina. It would recover, albeit slowly, and eventually it would recover enough for Luffy to rejoin the fight. His health was not doing very well, however. If he took a hit he'd be dangerously close to dying and losing his devil fruit.

Perhaps the first thing that Sabo should have noticed was the grotesquely giant Moria now standing atop Oar's body and laughing manically. The shadow tendrils on the ground were all attached to him, apparently pumping shadows into Moria's body.

Sabo took a step forward only for a hand to grab his shoulder to hold him back. "Dray, wait, yoi." There was only one person present at this event that would use Sabo's preferred name in the Virtual World and Sabo turned to find that it was indeed Fen standing behind and to his left. "Straw Hat asked that we stay out of this."

"Did he?" Sabo relaxed.

Fen nodded "Also, I found this, yoi." He lifted his other hand to loosely fit a top hat on Sabo's head.

"Oh, thanks." Sabo reached up to adjust the brim of the hat until it sat comfortably on his head. He turned back to look at Luffy to find that his brother was back to being full-grown, staring up at the giant mass that Moria had become with a blank expression. "So you're just gonna let him take all the fame and credit?" Sabo asked.

"I'm the first division commander of the Whitebeard Pirates, yoi." Fen reminded him with a smirk, leaving it to Sabo to conclude that Fen didn't need the fame or credit. "Besides, the kid deserves it. The main reason I agreed to come, yoi, was to see the rising star for myself. Rage isn't exactly the most reliable source of information about this particular rookie. Helping with Oars and taking out Moria's shadow clones were enough fun for my evening, yoi."

Sabo snickered "Speaking of Rage, how did you guys get him to back off and let Luffy take Moria?"

"He was just makin' a show of it, yoi. You know how he is." Fen turned and they watched as Luffy kicked it back up into second gear, breath coming in ragged gasps.

"Proud." Sabo responded simply. "Too proud to let Luffy do all the work, but too proud of his little brother to not step back and watch him and his crew's flawless teamwork." Sabo knew the feeling. Luffy had really found himself some great friends (He was still withholding judgment on this Law character. He seemed like a psycho, but Sabo wasn't going to judge until he met him. If Luffy was friends with him he couldn't be a bad person. He also had to consider the fact that people tended to act differently in virtual worlds than they did in reality.) Sabo had to force down the question about the fate of the virtual world so that he didn't get himself worked up again. There was time enough to worry about it later. "So where is Rage, anyway?" Sabo asked instead, scanning the small crowd once more while the fight between Moria and Luffy raged on.

"Up there, yoi." Fen directed his attention upwards and he spotted the fire user sitting on the edge of the pulley system high above them, a yeti standing next to him. A yeti? Who? Was that… was that Chopper? Sabo squinted and, judging by the clothes, that was, indeed, Chopper. Sabo turned his gaze away once more to watch Luffy push the absolute limits of his health and draining stamina. Moria's health was definitely suffering, though. The sun was rising fast, however, which meant that they were running out of time.

Sabo wasn't at all concerned, though. He didn't really have a reason to be. It was thrilling, yes, but was he concerned? Definitely not. As immersive as this game was, it could never fully replicate the sense of gravity to a situation. It lacked that life or death consequence. Dying in the game could be frustration, yes. You could lose everything and a few skill levels across the board. You could feel the ache in your bones, the pain of a strong enough hit, the exhaustion of a particularly arduous fight, the adrenaline pumping through your veins, the excitement of a situation, but a fear of death? No, it was just an inconvenience at best. Sabo was sure that the feeling wasn't mutual from player to player, especially with players possessing devil fruits to consider. All that time and investment spent on developing you skills only to lose it all when you died had to be more than enough to turn dying in the game into a legitimate fear. They actually had something to permanently lose. Sabo wasn't too sure about Fen, though. He always seemed much too relaxed about it. He wondered if the man could even lose his devil fruit if he died with the whole phoenix of rebirth thing and all. Would he even take a hit to his stats if he died? It was already unfair that the man was a zoan with the perks of a logia, add that on top of it and some people might consider it cheating.

Cheating. Sabo frowned at the memory of his visitor from CP9. He was going to have to decide what he was going to do and decide it quick. Should he risk going back to Celestial again before he went back to Texas? If he got a digital signature from Luffy he could print it out and then take it with him as a reason for going back, but then there would be a chance that he'd run into _him_ again. Sabo frowned. Maybe he could con Kid into going with him. Kid would never let him hear the end of it, but Sabo would be more comfortable walking into that demon's lair with someone who had his back then going in by himself. Then again, Kid was rather brash and there was no predicting what the man might do if they met _him_. Sabo could rely on keeping his cool _most_ of the time, but Kid was a loose canon _all_ of the time.

Eventually Sabo's gaze landed on Zoro, who was standing off to Sabo's left along side a few of the other straw hats. The side of Zoro's face was starting to smoke as sunlight began to creep its way around the buildings to land on the people in the courtyard. Suddenly remembers what he'd wanted to do, Sabo picked his way across the rubble to stand along side the green-haired swordsman, Fen following him over. Zoro spared Sabo a glance before shifting his gaze back to his captain. Sabo watched Luffy for a moment before opening his mouth to ask "Do you have Skype?"

"What?" Zoro furrowed his eyebrows and spared Sabo a second glance "I don't but I can get one. Why?"

"Just some things that I need to show you, is all." Sabo replied vaguely. The look on Zoro's face showed that the man had understood what he was getting at, however.

Zoro nodded "When would you like to meet?"

"It'll be late for me but right after all of this?" Sabo asked.

"That works. I'll probably be eating dinner if you don't mind."

"That's fine." Sabo dismissed. "I'll make a search for you on Skype later and send you a request then."

"Give me thirty minutes and I'll be there."

* * *

Sabo blinked open his eyes and just lay there for a few moments, soaking in the feeling of the couch underneath him until his muscles began to protest too loudly for him to remain still any longer. He lifted his arms to take off the Dragon headset and groaned slightly, his joints loudly protesting the action. He pushed the headset off and glanced at the watch on his wrist. It was nearly eleven o'clock at night. Sabo groaned and eased himself upright. Waking up after a long play session in the dive was always a struggle on the everything.

Sabo stood and stretched, working out all of the kinks in his muscles from lying in a single position for several hours. He jumped up and down twice to remind his brain what it was like to be in his real body and remind it how his real muscles worked. He signed and smacked his lips, his mouth feeling dry and gunky. Some greasy residue from the pizza rolls still lingering in his mouth. Sabo made a disgusted sound at the feeling. He really needed a drink to wash that down, but he also really needed to pee now.

After a trip to the bathroom, Sabo made his way to the kitchen. He popped open the fridge and let it's internal light wash over him. He blinked a few times before closing one eye and squinting the other against the bright light, reaching in to grab a can of Mountain Dew. He closed the door again before his eyes had a chance to adjust to the light. Sabo cracked open the can and took a long drought of the cold liquid, swished it around in his mouth, and then swallowed with a pleased sigh.

The kitchen light flicked on and Sabo froze, Mountain Dew half raised to his lips as he moved to take another drink. Standing next to the light switch was the one roommate that Sabo had yet to meet. "Um… hi?" Sabo offered tentatively. "'m Sabo?"

"Are you asking or telling?" the man asked in a dull monotone.

"Um, telling." Sabo responded tentatively, lowing his can so he didn't look like an idiot. "You must be Hawkins."

"Indeed I am." Hawkins affirmed, staring at Sabo with narrowed eyes. The taller man seemed to be looking down at Sabo with disdain and Sabo couldn't help but feel like the man was hardcore judging him. Kid had said that Hawkins pretty much had a permanent 'so-done-with-your-shit-get-out-of-my-face' look about him. So maybe he wasn't judging Sabo. He had a strong feeling that he was, though.

Hawkins hummed thoughtfully. "If you have a moment." Hawkins reached into his sleeve and pulled out a deck of cards. Where the hell was he keeping those? How did they stay in his sleeve? "Just a little something I'd like you to do before I let you continue on with your night." Hawkins laid the cards out on the kitchen table. "Pick three cards."

Sabo drew his lips to the side and stared at the cards skeptically. He silently sighed, figuring that he should play along. He reached out a tugged three cards out of the line up.

"Hawkins. Are you trying to use your voodoo magic on my guest again?" Kid growled as he entered the kitchen, running a hand through his hair and looking a bit sleepy. _Brunet_. Sabo didn't think he would ever get over that.

Hawkins paused in the middle of flipping over one of the cards to look at Kid. "It's not voodoo. Its fortune telling."

"Who gives a fuck? No one. And definitely not Sabo. So, pick up all your cards and get out of here, damn it. No one believes in this shit." Kid growled, pushing the cards into a pile, the other two cards that Sabo had picked getting lost in the crowd. Sabo was glad, really. He had no interest what-so-ever.

Hawkins glanced at the card between his fingers with his dark stoicism. He shifted his gaze to Sabo "Would you like a look?" Sabo shrugged indifferently, but okay maybe he was a little bit curious. "The Tower." Hawkins flipped the card around in his fingers, offering Sabo a brief glimpse before dropping the card facedown with the rest of them. It was hardly enough time for Sabo to actually get a good look at the card. Hawkins collected all of the cards back into an orderly stack and slipped the deck back into his sleeve.

"What's that mean?" Sabo asked, suddenly much more curious than he had been before.

"Without the other two cards it might as well be meaningless to you." Hawkins brushed off cryptically. "If you really want to know then look it up yourself." And with that, Kid's cryptic roommate sauntered off to the doorway tucked away to their right. Sabo craned his neck as the door opened to see if he could manage to get a peak inside the room. He was met with a glimpse of empty walls and none of the things Kid had suggested might be in there. It was rather plain and uninteresting, really.

Kid snickered and Sabo turned to look at him "You lied to me." Sabo accused. Kid could no longer hold back his laughter and just burst out laughing.

"And you believed me! He is one really creepy ass mother fucker, though, right?" Kid asked quietly.

Sabo huffed and took a drink of his soda, not even bothering to acknowledge Kid with an answer with which to stoke the man's ego.

"Oh, come on. I didn't lie about _all of it_. Don't be a princess." Kid tapped Sabo on the arm with the back of his hand, urging Sabo to let up. Sabo glared at Kid over the top of his can but refused to say anything.

"So how'd Thriller Bark go?" Kid opted to change the subject.

Sabo narrowed his eyes, letting a silence sit between them for a few seconds before responding "it went well. Luffy's got himself a really strong crew." Sabo admired, making his way into the living room that was half lit by the light from the kitchen. "I was a bit distracted most of the time, though."

"Because of this morning? You did say you were heading out to meet someone today while I was at work. How did that go?" Kid asked, following him into the living room.

"Good, but not good." Sabo admitted as he sat down and took another sip of his drink.

Kid climbed over the back of the couch to sit next to him. "Enough to keep your mind off the event?"

Sabo hummed his affirmation before asking "You working tomorrow?"

"Nope. Why do you ask? I was planning on asking you if you wanted to go to the store to get groceries with me so that you don't have to sit around here." Kid offered.

"Mind if we go to Celestial after that, then?" Sabo asked tentatively. "It's a bit of a drive, but…"

Kid frowned and Sabo could see the wheels turning in his head as he evaluated Sabo. There must have been something in Sabo's eyes that made Kid exhale softly before nodding "Yeah, I can do that. " He accepted without asking why. He knew Sabo had met _him_ there. "But if your dragging me into this mess you better tell me what you've found out since you got here."

Sabo sighed and looked at the time. It was 11:30. "Well, I have a meeting on Skype to get to, so if he's okay with it you can sit in. You already know more than you should." Sabo gestured over to his bag, which was sitting on the ground to Kid's right. Kid turned to look at it before getting the hint to haul it over to him. Sabo dug through it and pulled out his laptop, notepad, and a folder. He lay them out on the coffee table and turned on his laptop. As he waited for it to boot up Sabo picked up the folder and waved it in front of Kid's face "This is probably all kinds of illegal so don't tell anyone I have it."

"God damn it, Sabo. I said don't do anything illegal." Kid hissed, snatching the folder from Sabo. "We're moving out of the living room." He snapped the lid of Sabo's laptop closed and picked it up, grabbing Sabo's bag and stalking off to his bedroom. "C'mon."

"I didn't ask her to do it alright?" Sabo defended quietly as he grabbed his notepad "She brought it along to show me and then just _gave_ it to me. I didn't know what else to do so I took it."

" _Illegal,"_ Kid emphasized as he used his hip to push open his bedroom door.

"They're copies." Sabo tried to justify as he followed. "Not real."

"Pretty sure that's still _illegal_." Kid hissed a little louder than the last time as he shooed Sabo into his room. Kid shut the door behind him with a huff and turned on the light "Can I burn it? I kinda wanna burn it." Kid asked as he set Sabo's laptop and the folder down on the foot of the bed and offered Sabo back his messenger bag.

"Fine. After the call you can burn them to your hearts content." Sabo sighed, accepting the bag and then dropping it into his suitcase laying propped open at the foot of Kid's bed.

"Sweet." Kid climbed up onto his bed and rested his back against the wall, legs jutting feet jutting off the side of the twin sized bed. He patted the spot next to him and Sabo climbed up onto the bed and flopped down next to him. It took him a moment to get comfortable and Kid handed Sabo the laptop again.

Sabo settled the laptop in his lap and punched in his password. Once the start up completed he opened up Skype and did a quick search for a Zoro Gremillion. A glance at the email attached to the name confirmed that it was the Zoro he was looking for. Who else named Zoro would have an email starting with 'santoryu'? Sabo added Zoro as a contact and waited. He batted Kid's hand away from the folder and Kid scowled.

"I wanna see." Kid complained.

"Not if Zoro doesn't want you to see." Sabo denied.

There was a blip from Skype as Zoro accepted the contact request and Sabo typed up a quick message saying 'Gonna video call, you ready for that?'

'Yeh' came Zoro's response a few seconds later.

Sabo clicked the call button. Skype's ringtone only sounded for a few seconds before the video feeds began to load. Sabo slid the laptop down to his knees and waited. The feed eventually connected to reveal a man who looked to be about Sabo's age adjusting the angle of his laptop screen so that he'd be in the picture, a mostly each slice of pizza hanging from his mouth.

"Oh hey." Zoro greeted, voice muffled by the mouthful of pizza left in his mouth when he pulled the rest of the slice away and sat down, bringing his face into view.

"Yo." Sabo responded, glancing over the video feed. The room's light was off, but the natural light coming in through a window on the left was enough to light up the room Zoro was in. His eye's couldn't help but gravitate towards Zoro's hair. It was green, yes, but not entirely green. It was actually vaguely reminiscent of superman ice cream in the way that it was an uneven rainbow of color with far more yellow, blue, and red than anything else.

"Who's that?" Zoro asked, gesturing vaguely. Kid looked up from the folder, realizing he was being addressed.

"Oh, this is Kid." Sabo explained "He's the friend that lives in Boston. I've been staying at his place all week while I've been doing my digging. I kinda ended up dragging him into this mess and he insists on sitting in, do you mind?"

Sabo could see the words boiling just beneath the surface as Kid stared at Zoro's hair while Zoro mulled over the request with the rest of his slice of pizza. Zoro finally shook his head "Nah, it's cool."

"What's with the hair?" Kid finally blurted out, no longer able to hold back.

Zoro stopped in the middle of picking up another slice of pizza, his gaze drifted, probably landing on his own video feed in the corner "Oh. Right. The rainbow. Perona decided that this year she's going to dye my hair according to whatever holiday or thing is relevant. I happened to be due another dye last month and last month was Pride Month. She decided it would be a great idea to try dying my hair like a rainbow. It's going to be like this till the end of August." Zoro scowled, looking utterly fed up with it already, grumbling something to himself around a mouthful of pizza about 'work,' 'hard enough,' and 'getting hit on.' "So what did you find out that you had to call me on Skype?" Zoro abruptly changed the subject.

Sabo pulled the folder out of Kid's hands as he was opening it. "It's because of this." Sabo explained before setting the folder back down on Kid's lap. "I'll start from the beginning though. To keep it brief because I'm tired and it's almost midnight, I'll keep to the parts that are relevant to you."

Zoro nodded, picking up a can and taking a drink before eating another bite of pizza.

Sabo began by telling Zoro about his talk with Monet concerning John Gremillion's visit to Celestial prior to the tournament and about his cryptic phone call with Tashigi.

Zoro furrowed his eyebrows, chewing thoughtfully on his third slice of pizza "So after that you went and talked to her, then?"

"Yeah, earlier today, actually. We met at the library downtown at about 2:30 this afternoon."

"2:30? But… right." Zoro interrupted himself. "Boston. You're what… four hours ahead of me there?" he mused, picking up his can and gulping down the rest of whatever he was drinking.

"So that means you live in Cali?" Sabo deduced. It was the most likely candidate of the four states in that time zone.

"Mmhm." Zoro confirmed. That explained the ridiculous tan. "So what happened with Tashigi?"

"Right. So I met up with Tashigi in one of those small conference rooms in the back of the library meant for private meetings and suddenly I was the one being interrogated when I was the one who was supposed to be interviewing her. She asked me who I was, what I was doing, what I planned on doing, and who I worked for. So I told her the truth. Told her that my name was Sabo Mongas, that I wrote for the News Coo, assured her that nothing said during our conversation would be written in an article if she didn't want it to be, told her that I was doing some personal investigating, and that I'd been in contact with you. She asked me what all I already knew so I told her pretty much what I told you earlier. She then reached into her bag and placed that folder on the table between us."

Zoro nodded as he finished his slice of pizza, prompting Sabo to continue.

Sabo reached over and flipped the folder open, pulling it into his own lap.

"Holy Shit, this is going straight into the fire when we're done here, damn it." Kid insisted as he picked up the photo lying on top of the stack of papers.

"What is it?" Zoro asked as Sabo plucked the photo from Kid's fingers.

"I know I said I'd show you everything but these are the pictures of…. Y'know. Are you sure?" Sabo asked tentatively.

"Nothing you show me will be able to faze me." Zoro responded, that hint of darkness to an alluded past making itself known to Sabo once more. Sabo would never ask about it, though.

Sabo turned the photo and held it up to the camera with three fingers. He watched his camera's display as he maneuvered the photo until it was in full view before he began "On June 29th the police were called out to the scene of a car wreck. A vehicle had run a red light and collided with a Semi. The accident then grew to involve several vehicles and closed down a major intersection. Everyone involved in the accident came out of it mostly unaffected except for the driver of this vehicle." Sabo tapped the photo with his pointer finger. The photo showed the car from a slight distance, crowds of people being pushed back by emergency responders. The car sat in shambled, front end a mangled mess of metal, driver's side completely caved in and the door being pried from its hinges. It was easy to spot the driver slumped in the font seat. The second photo was from the passenger side of the car where the door had been forced open in order to reach the driver and pull him out the easier way.

Zoro took it all in with a stone cold expression. Sabo was surprised at how composed Zoro appeared on the outside. Looking at the second picture, there was no denying that it was John Gremillion if you knew who he was.

"Tashigi look these pictures herself when she arrived at the scene." Sabo resumed, putting the photo down. "They cleared everyone out and one look made it obvious that the driver was dead. No one survives getting t-boned by a semi, but an ambulance was on its way anyway. Tashigi found an old, slightly banged up, flip phone that was somehow still in working condition despite looking like it came from the dinosaur age. That's when she called you as she pulled a wallet from the cup holder. But then…" Sabo reached for the next photo only for Kid to press it into his hand for him. Sabo looked down to make sure it was the one he was looking for and then held it up to the camera for Zoro to look at.

"Fire." Zoro recognized, staring at the photo of the charred remains of the vehicle.

"She was still on the line with you when it started." Sabo revealed.

"Yeah… I think I heard someone yelling at her to move…" Zoro's eyes were wide.

"She didn't move fast enough." Sabo explained, putting the photo down "She was standing next to the car when it suddenly went up in flames. She was singed and got some light burn scars on her right side but nothing serious. The scars will probably be completely faded in just a few years. But after everything was said and done everything got turned into the investigation team to figure out what happened and to identify who was involved in the crash because all that had been left were charred remains by the time the fire was put out. There was no denying that it was John Gremillion thanks to the items that Tashigi had recovered."

"But something here makes absolutely no sense to me." Kid cut in. Sabo had a feeling he knew exactly what he was about to say. "He was visiting Boston. He wouldn't have a car so how could he be caught driving one?"

The look on Zoro's face made it clear that he'd come to the same conclusion a long time ago.

"I'm getting to that." Sabo assured him. "In the week that followed the accident a number of things became clear. First, that Mr. Gremillion was dead before the accident took place. Second, the fire was started artificially. And, Third, that none of it was an accident."

"I'm gonna need a beer. Hang on a sec." Zoro interrupted suddenly, standing up and retreating from view. Was he even old enough to be drinking? He looked old enough to be drinking. But was he? Sabo looked around for his drink only to realize that he'd left it in the living room.

"Sabo, this is messed up. Are you sure you should be meddling? I know I said I'd take you back to Celestial tomorrow, but is that really a good idea to go so soon?" Kid asked while they waited.

"Probably not." Sabo admitted. "Especially after my run-in on Thriller Bark. I'll get to that bit later."

"Wait, what? There're more to this than just the mess with Mihawk?" Kid hissed.

Zoro chose that moment to return with a fresh can, settling down on the floor once more, his left knee hiked up to his chest with his left arm resting on it loosely and holding the can in his right. "What whole mess?" he asked, taking a swig of his drink. Sabo opened his mouth to respond when Zoro suddenly lowered the can with a concerned glare. Sabo didn't know glares could look concerned. "Shit, did you get in trouble for this?"

Sabo chewed on his button lip. There was no point in lying, "You aren't the only reason why I'm in trouble. You didn't ask me to do this, I did it all on my own. But, yes, this is part of it. Don't apologize for it. It was my choice to walk down this path."

"Hold it. You did not tell me about this." Kid leaned away from Sabo with a look of accusation.

"It's nothing serious." Sabo dismissed. "I'll tell you later, okay? Can I just, get back to this?" Sabo asked. "one thing at a time."

Kid narrowed his eyes stubbornly but relented "Fine. But you _will_ tell me."

"I will. I will. Don't worry." Sabo assured him.

"I'm gonna fuckin worry don't you even try, Sabotage." Kid corrected.

"Whatever. So." Sabo thought back to where he left off. "So by the end of the week they knew that the wreck had been staged and the fire had been set to hide the evidence. Something was faulty, however, and the fire took longer than they probably wanted it to to start burning." Sabo sifted through the couple of pages that were tucked into the folder. Autopsy reports. "It was also by this time that Tashigi lost her job and all official evidence had been destoryed." Sabo added.

Zoro's scowl deepened even further, "Now why the fuck would that happen?"

"Because she was the one with the proof that the man in that car had been your father." Sabo explained.

"That's fucked up." Kid frowned. "Why would the station do something like that?"

"According to Tashigi, Celestial had paid them to fire her. Paid them a _lot_. Probably paid them even more to lie about everything." Sabo revealed. "But because of who she was, they couldn't just fire her on the spot. They had to have an excuse. The precinct spun it a couple different ways. After they'd found out that John had been dead before he was put into the car, they claimed Tashigi had been the one to kill him. Claimed that there were stab wounds and that her motive ad been the fencing competition, which she had won. They couldn't make it convincing enough, though, so they tried a different angle. The body didn't belong to John Gremillion at all and Tashigi got busted for the possession of illegally obtained weapons in her sword collection. It was a false claim but it was convincing enough and easy enough to be staged, stolen sword from some museum somewhere and all.

"So," Sabo continued, "Official reports say that the man who died in the accident was named Wayne Grayson. He was drunk and ran a red light and was killed on impact. His body was unrecognizable when they pulled him out burnt vehicle. The copy of the real reports here, however, tell a different story." Sabo waved around the papers in his hands. "There was plenty of proof that it was your father and his official cause of death is suspected to be, in simple terms, that his brain shut down. I haven't had a change to look into what happened to the real Wayne Grayson, but that's the story. That's what happened to your father. "

Sabo let out a soft breath, staying quite to give that time to sink in. He really needed a drink, though. His mouth was feeling dry and gunky again.

Zoro sat there, staring somewhere off to the right of the camera, finger absently tapping the table before him. He was silence for what felt like an eternity before he gave a defeated sigh "So Mihawk is my father, then."

"It seems that is the case." Sabo agreed.

Zoro chewed on his bottom lip. "I... I'm going to need time to let that sink in so I'm gonna hang up. Thanks… for telling me." Zoro hesitated.

"I just figured you'd like to know." Sabo acknowledged.

Zoro nodded once before reaching out, the call ended with a click.

"You've gotten yourself tangled up in some scary shit, Sabo." Kid sighed.

"Which leads me to my dilemma." Sabo sighed.

Kid frowned but didn't say anything as Sabo gathered up all the papers and photos, paper clicked them back to the folder, and then shut the lid of his laptop. "Tashigi told me to drop everything because the lengths at which Celestial will go to shut me up are impossible to judge and in Thriller Bark her warning was justified. Turns out they know Tashigi and I talked and they sent a member of CP9 out to confront me during the event today."

"Never a good sign." Kid remarked. "What did they say?"

"He told me that tonight was just a warning, but the next time they catch me my account in One Piece will be killed. And if I don't stop after that? Then he said that he doubts it will be anything good. That combined with Tashigi's warning…" Sabo left the thought hanging in the air.

"And you want to do back there anyway." Kid sighed, rubbing his face with his hands.

"Mmhm."

"For what? It can't be to just give some guy an autograph." Kid suspected.

Sabo chewed on his lips. "I might have something else in mind."

* * *

A/N: And that's a wrap!

Thanks for your time and support! You are all as lovely as always.

Next Chapter: We venture back into the Dragon's Lair.


	11. Ch 11: The Warning Prt 1

A/N: Ooooooh my god i am so sorry this chapter is so late. I know i said short and on time or a few days late but now it's shortish and whole week late! Gah. The first week i just wasn't able to find the time to work on it because of the Convention and then the following week i had that kind of writer's block where you know exactly what you need to write but you don't know _how_ to write it. Yeah. a week of playing around with that and then i worked furiously to bring you this chapter by the end of the week once i got it all figured out. So again i'm really sorry i wasn't able to keep my word. The chapter is not as long as it could have been, but i cut it short in favor of getting it to you sooner rather than later. (It's still pretty long, though. Just not one of the 10k monsters i've been posting for the last several)

So without further ado:

* * *

 **Chapter 11**

"Alright, here we are. The Dragon's Lair." Kid sighed, running a hand through his hair before reluctantly turning and pulling the keys from the ignition, effectively cutting them off from the air conditioning. Sabo knew it was hot when even Kid rolled up his windows and kicked on the AC. Kid turned in his seat to look at Sabo "So what are you planning on doing?"

Sabo dug through his bag to make sure that he still had the map of Celestial's campus in there before he climbed out of the car. "You'll see." He replied vaguely. "I have a few places I want to stop by."

"Is any of it potentially illegal?" Kid asked, climbing out of the vehicle.

"I hope not. I just need you to be my emotional support, okay?" Sabo admitted.

"I am shitty emotional support. You know that, right?" Kid snickered.

"Yeah, but you're the best I've got right now." Sabo huffed, examining the map in his hands as he led Kid towards the main building.

"What's with all the garden gnomes?" Kid asked as they stepped from the parking lot and onto the sidewalk, Sabo still examining all of the buildings in the map key.

Sabo didn't even need to look to know exactly what Kid was looking at. "If you don't appreciate the garden gnomes, you clearly just wont understand." Sabo smirked as they circled around the massive dragon skeleton.

"You nerds are weird." Kid grimaced.

"You're a nerd, too, Useless. Face it." Sabo reminded him.

"Oh, not this again." Kid groaned.

"You're a nerd!" Sabo repeated with a grin.

"Okay, fine. So I'm a nerd that goes to one of the biggest nerd school in the country and has employers already asking me to work at their god damn nerd companies when I graduate. It's true. Go ahead and revoke _your_ nerd card, Sabotage, because I've clearly won this nerd competition. I am the biggest nerd here." Kid threw his hands into the air in defeat, but was still unable to resist making his own jab back at Sabo.

"Just because you're a robot nerd doesn't mean I have to revoke my fantasy gamer nerd card." Sabo pointed out.

Kid rolled his eyes. "So where to first?"

"First. Gonna stop in and see if the kid at the front desk is working today, and then we're going to go and visit the animation team, and then we'll go and drop off the autographs, see if I can snatch up a building tour, and hope I don't run into anyone who knows me," Sabo sighed, tucking the map into the front pocket of his messenger bag before pushing open one of the glass doors and entering into the main building.

Sabo made a beeline for the front desk, recognizing the boy sitting behind it, lazily tapping away at the glass screen in front of him.

"Woah." Kid gasped, eyes darting around the building. "Is that…?"

"Go ahead and check it out." Sabo allowed. Kid immediately peeled off and headed for the holographic world map as Sabo approached the front desk. What was the kid's name again? He vaguely remembered something to do with cheese. Jack? Wait no. Coby.

Coby noticed his approach and sat up straight. "Ah! Sabo! Back again for another visit?"

Sabo rested his hands on the desk as he leaned in, nodding "Yeah, something major came up so I had to leave early." Sabo fished out the map and lay it out on the desk "I was only able to make it out to one of the buildings you directed me towards the other day. What are the other two you marked on the map?" He asked, pointing out the ones that he hadn't visited yet.

"Ah they're both offshoots of the main building you already visited. The one you visited is…" Coby craned his neck to orient the buildings. "The one that has some of corporate stuff, the science and research teams, and the management and planning teams for the events. Okay so that means that the one next door is the one that houses the programmers, developers, animators, concept artists, and such. The biggest building across the street is the one that houses the servers, marketing, communications, and anything else having to do with the public side of things."

"Is this all under the name Outlook, then?" Sabo asked out of curiosity.

"Yeah. Didn't used to be called that, but Mr. Outlook bought the company while the game was still in development. They were floundering and needed the money and then Celestial bought the Outlook brand after that, relocated them all to the Celestial Campus, and then lent all of their own research teams and developers to help out the struggling One Piece team." Coby explained. "The game never would have made it to market otherwise."

That… made a lot more sense. Sabo had been right about that man having never held an interest in technology and video games when Sabo had been growing up. But what had prompted his dad to let his company get absorbed into Celestial, then? "Ah thanks. You sure know a lot about the company, don't you?"

"Yeah! I've been doing my research. They say you should know a lot about the company you want to work for in order to better your odds towards getting a job." Coby gave Sabo a thumbs up.

"Good for you. I'm sure that they admire your enthusiasm." Sabo praised. " Before I go, I noticed on the map that you guys also have a robotics division here. Do you think you can get us in for a look around after I stop around these buildings today?" Sabo asked quietly, nodding back towards the holographic world map where Kid was.

Coby leaned to look around Sabo and at his friend, Sabo resisted the urge to turn and look as well. That would only bring Kid's attention towards them so he watched Coby's eyes as they must have locked onto Kid's arm. "Your friend into robotics then?" he asked softly, taking Sabo's cue.

"Mmhm." Sabo hummed. "Built that arm himself."

"I'll see what I can do. They're really laid back over there, so I'm sure it wont be a problem. They'd love to get a look at that arm." Coby nodded.

"Thanks. You're a good kid." Sabo smiled. Taking Kid there was the least he could do to pay back his friend for coming here with him. "I'm sure that the instant you graduate, they'll have an official job waiting for you."

"You think so?" Coby grinned.

Kid appeared next to Sabo "Got everything sorted out?" he asked.

"Yup." Sabo confirmed as he straightened, taking a step back from the front desk. "Thanks again, Coby."

"No problem." Coby replied relaxing into his chair and turning to the phone next to him. "I'll make those calls for you now. Enjoy your visit!"

Sabo waved and led Kid out the doors opposite the ones they'd originally entered.

"That holographic map is bad ass. I think I've scoped out my next target. Man. So many people will kill to have access to a map like that. You can see _everyone_." Kid smirked.

"Speaking of. There's a few places we can stop by on our way to the Labs that we can check out." Sabo recalled, telling Kid about some of the things that he'd seen the last time he'd been here. A lot of it peaked Kid's interest so Sabo looked at the map in his hands to verify their locations before setting out to find them.

When the two of them were visiting the rankings in the lobby of what Sabo now knew was the community building, Kid could only laugh.

"What's funny?" Sabo asked.

"Your brother's Straw_Hat_Luffy, right?" Kid asked.

"Yeah…" Sabo agreed tentatively, wondering what had caught Kid's eye.

"I have a higher bounty than him." Kid snickered.

"What!?"

"I'm also higher ranked than him." Kid laughed.

"Luffy's been the first to beat two events and you're still a higher rank than him?" Sabo gaped at Kid. "What have you been doing? Why haven't you taken on any of these events?"

"Because I just like being a pain in the ass." Kid stuck his tongue out, turning away from the leader boards. "If there ever comes an event where the main goal is to kill as many people as possible, my crew will be completely on board."

"Even Leo?" Sabo asked, thinking about Kid's quiet roommate as he turned away from the leaderboards and headed for the door.

"There's a reason why they call him Killer and the Massacre Soldier and all that. It's always the quiet ones you gotta be worried about." Kid reminded him with a smirk.

The following visit to the animation team's studio in the basement of the developer's building yielded no new information for Sabo. They confirmed that John Gremillion had been with them that day and even showed him some of the reference footage that they had shot. Kid got wrapped up in a discussion with them about a robot that they'd borrowed from the robotics lab. It had been programmed to perfectly mimic every one of Mr. Gremillion's moves with their motion capture tech. It was fascinating, but not entirely Sabo's cup of tea.

It just amazed Sabo how thorough Celestial had been in covering up everything that had happened. It was going to be hard to build up evidence and finding concrete proof of what Celestial had done. Putting copies of the photos and documents Tashigi had given him onto a flash drive before Kid burned everything had been the first step. Making sure nothing happened to said flash drive would be the most important step.

They left the building, Kid with a small bounce in his step, and Sabo dreading every step closer they took to the neighboring office. For a moment he considered taking a detour to the building next door, but no. He was going to have to face it eventually. He might not even run into that man today. Who knew? If it was today, then it was today. There was no reason for him to chicken out of it now. Ace was right. Sabo had to face him eventually. Sabo wasn't a coward by any means, so he wasn't about to be a coward now. (It did help a ton knowing that he had a friend with him, though.)

Sabo pushed open the door and stepped into the familiar lobby. The glass panel before them lit up with the former dragon mascot and chimed "Greetings! My name is Aidan and I'm here to welcome you to Outlook Labs!"

Sabo internally cringed at the name but smiled outwardly "My name is Sabo, I was here earlier this week and I have something for a guy called Barto? So I'd like to speak with him if he's working today."

"One moment please. Take a seat in the lobby and I will be back with you shortly." The image vanished, leaving him and Kid alone in the lobby once more.

"That's pretty neat. Having an AI greet you like that." Kid mused.

"Well that is one of this building's specialties." Sabo informed him.

"Seriously, dude, if I didn't know I would want to work for Celestial in a heartbeat. I mean. I already know they have a robotics division and we've had plenty of guest speakers from here come to campus. Luckily I've already got my eyes on some other companies, though. The temptation is much less than it was back in high school."

"I doubt the whole company is to blame." Sabo allowed as he took a seat on one of the couches in the lobby. "At least I hope so." Sabo speculated optimistically, eyes scanning over the various magazines and fliers resting on the table next to him. He was about to dismiss it all in favor of pulling out his notepad to write down that thought when something caught his eyes. Sabo froze mid reach for his bag and just stared at it. Was that there before?

Sabo redirected his energy and practically threw himself at the magazine. He remained half on the side table, elbows resting on the other scattered tech magazines as he examined the one now in his hands. Along the left side where all of the "big" inside stories were, he saw a picture (more like a mug shot) of Stelly. But that wasn't all. Sharing the circular bubble with that piece of trash was another picture… a picture of Sabo. It looked like it had to have been his college school ID photo, actually. Where the hell had they gotten that? And, more importantly, what the fuck was with the caption!? 'Stelly Arrested, Sabo to return to Father's Business.'?! What the actual hell. No one had consulted him? Did Sabo even have an opinion? Like hell was he ever going back. Was this even real?

"Um… Sabo? What's up?" Kid asked, obvious concern lacing his voice. "What did you see?"

Sabo tore his eyes from the magazine to look over his shoulder at Kid before slowly pulling himself back until he was sitting on the couch once more, gripping the magazine tightly in his hands. Where they planning on forcing him to come back? No, they couldn't. He was twenty years old. They couldn't make him do anything. Right? Where had they even gotten the idea that he was coming back? Why was Stelly arrested? But more importantly there was no way in hell they could take him away from his brothers. Nobody would stand for that.

"Earth to Sabo." Kid intruded back into Sabo's spiraling thought train, prompting Sabo to look up at his friend again. He must have looked as panicked as he felt because Kid immediately snatched the magazine out of his hands to look at it.

The glass panel to their left chimed as it lit back up with the dragon, lightly startling Sabo with its abruptness. "Bartolomeo is working today, so I have notified him of your presence. He should be down to see you shortly, Mr. Outlook."

Sabo swallowed thickly before forcing out a "Thank you." He hoped sounded composed. His fingers curled into fists, gripping the fabric of his shorts tightly in order to hide the fact that they were probably shaking. He took a deep breath and counted to six before exhaling for the same amount of time.

"What the fuck is this shit." Kid swore as the dragon vanished again. "And did that dragon just call you 'Mr. Outlook'? Fuck that. That's not even your fucking name. They don't fucking own you. What the _fuck_." Kid opened the magazine, skimming through the pages to find the article. "This is fucking bullshit that's what this is. Don't let it get to you. Cocksuckers like these guys don't know don't know what the fuck they're talking about." Kid continued to rant, ripping the magazine into pieces and waving them as he emphasized his points.

Kid's outburst was oddly soothing for Sabo's nerves. Kid was right. It was just a magazine article. It's not like it was true. Hopefully. Shit what if—No. It's not like it's true. Sabo hadn't heard anything about it so it was likely to be just a rumor. There was no point getting worked up about it. But why had the dragon called him by his former last name, if there wasn't some element of truth to it then? How did it even know that's who he was?

The door to the staircase suddenly flew open, revealing a familiar crest of green hair. Sabo took one more deep breath and stood, silencing Kid's continuous rant with a finger and then pointing for him to remain seated. "Hey, Barto. I got you something." Sabo opened up his messenger bag as he took a step towards Barto.

That one step was all Sabo needed to take before the man was standing right in front of him. "Is it what I think it is?" he asked, quietly excited.

"It's more than what you think it is." Sabo smiled, pulling out the printed picture of the Straw Hat Crew. They'd taken it with a transponder snail during their post-Thriller Bark Party. Luffy was going to be the only one to sign it, but then the rest of them had gotten in on it, all of them signing their usernames on or near themselves in the picture. They'd even insisted that Brook join in on the picture despite the fact that he had just joined and Barto would have no idea who he was.

Barto's eyes almost literally sparkled. "This is from right after Thriller Bark, isn't it?" Sabo nodded to confirm. "Oh my god they're all here!" Barto squealed, taking the picture and spinning around once. He stopped, panting slightly from exertion as his eyes glanced over the names. "Straw_Hat_Luffy, SniperKing, santoryuu, Gentlecook, Chopperman, Orange_Delight, and BattleFranky36! You got all of their signatures! But who's this Brook guy?" Barto asked, pointing at the tall man in question with a curious glance.

"That would be their newest crewmate." Sabo informed him, suddenly realizing how odd it was that Brook had signed with his name instead of his username. Unless that _was_ his username, in which case the man had to have been one of the first people to play the game because getting a username like that was practically impossible. "They picked him up in Thriller Bark." Barto looked up at him, completely star struck. "He's a fencer and a musician. One of the fastest players I've ever met that wasn't using Shave."

Barto tucked his arms in, bringing the picture even closer to his face for further inspection, which was a bit creepy to Sabo but whatever. "So, I was wondering if, in return for getting all of those signatures for you, if you could, I donno, maybe, show me around the whole building?"

"Of course! I can do that for you, Mr. Outlook." Barto agreed.

Kid materialized between them, grabbing Barto by the collar with his metal hand and jerking him forward "Never call him that. His last name's not Outlook, got it?"

Ah, geeze.

"But the message s—" Barto stuttered.

Kid shook Barto to shut him up and then practically lifted the man off the ground. "I don't give a fuck what anyone says, Sabo's not an Outlook."

Barto swallowed thickly and nodded quietly as Kid slowly let the green haired man go.

Sabo tapped Kid on the back of the shoulder to get his attention before pointing at Barto and saying "You stay right there. Kid, one moment please."

Sabo pulled Kid off to the side and leaned in close to whisper "He didn't know."

Kid huffed. "I don't care. No one—"

"Hey." Sabo raised his eyebrows, shooting Kid a pointed look to shut him up "Not his fault."

Kid breathed heavily through his nose but didn't say anything to protest the point.

"As much as I hate to do it, though." Kid opened his mouth to say something, but Sabo kept talking, not letting Kid interrupt "I might be able to use this to my advantage to get myself access to information."

"But—"

"No buts." Sabo interrupted.

"You're not actually going to agree to it are you?" Kid asked.

"Not in a lifetime." Sabo assured him.

Kid sighed, "If that man shows his face I'm gonna punch him, don't think I won't."

"Try not to. I'd rather not kicked out or you arrested again." Sabo urged.

"No promises." Kid frowned.

Sabo sighed "Just… let me to all of the talking okay?"

Kid chewed his lip, but nodded.

That was probably the best that Sabo was going to get out of him so he nodded back, patting his friend on the shoulder before venturing back to Barto. "Sorry about my friend. He won't do it again. So how about that tour of the other floors, yeah?"

Barto tucked the picture into the back pocket of his skinny jeans "Right. Sure. Um…" Barto was obviously struggling with what to call Sabo as he was falling back into professional mode.

"Sabo." Sabo reintroduced himself.

"Sabo." Barto nodded. "I got'ta clear it with Monet first, but I'll see what I can do since 'm supposed to be working. But, then again, …" Barto seemed to be about to mention the name Outlook again but hesitated, eyes darting over to Kid. Sabo glanced over his shoulder to find Kid glaring at Barto as if daring him to try and say it again. Barto opted for keeping his mouth shut. A bit of a wuss for someone with such a rebellious look about him.

Barto turned sharply and headed for the elevator, instructing "Follow me."

They rode the elevator up in awkward silence before stepping onto the third floor an eternity later. Sabo and Kid stayed by the elevator and waited as Barto sought out Monet. It was a few minutes before the familiar head of lime green hair returned, only, it didn't belong to Barto. It was Monet's.

"You came back a lot sooner than I expected, handsome." Monet mused, eyeing Sabo before turning her gaze to Kid. "Did you bring your guard dog here with you this time?" She asked, leaning to the side and resting a hand on her hip, sizing up Kid. "I'm can't be that intimidating."

True to his word, Kid kept his mouth shut, but his scowling spoke volumes.

Opting to cut to the chase, Sabo asked, "What happened to Bart? He was supposed to give me a tour of the building."

"He's got work to do." Monet vaguely explained.

"And you don't?" Sabo's eyebrows quirked up.

"I do." Monet allowed "But this is far more interesting, so I'll be the one to show you around, if you don't mind." Monet smiled, eyes drifting back to Kid again and lingering on his prosthetic arm.

Kid quirked an eyebrow before lifting his hand and moving all of his fingers to show off it's fluid and controlled motion capabilities, the gears softly whirring with each motion. "Made it myself. Cool, right?"

"Mind if I touch?" Monet asked, holding out her hand.

Kid glanced at Sabo before tentatively offering his hand, looking unsure of where this was going. "Yeah, sure, I guess."

Monet grabbed his hand with one of her own, lifting her glasses to her forehead with the other. "Can you feel anything with it?" She asked as she moved his fingers, wrist, and arm this way and that.

"Nope. Not that advanced yet. I can feel it when it gets super hot in the summer, but that has nothing to do with sensing anything just the fact that it's metal." Kid explained.

Money hummed, unimpressed as she let his hand drop from hers. "It's cool, but you should work on touch sensitivity and learn how to make it lighter. Maybe then I'll be impressed."

"I'm not a fuckin scientist, god, woman. I just build fucking robots and cybernetic arms. Jesus. I'm just a college student." As if that were a modest accomplishment. "And I've already got all of the plastic, 3D printed mumbo jumbo shit all figured out already. I'm just attached to badass metal arms, okay? God damn. Don't question a man's taste. I've spent six years on this shit." Kid retracted his arm with a scowl.

Monet smirked before turning and heading towards the stairs "You should pay the robotics building a visit, maybe they'll hire you." She offered flippantly as she pushed open the door. "We'll be taking the stairs since we're only going down one floor."

Kid looked at Sabo, obviously confused about how he should be feeling. Sabo only shrugged and began to follow after Monet as she started down the stairs. He pulled his phone from the front pocket of his messenger bag and noticed he had a text from Koala, but he ignored it in favor of texting Kid 'Pretty sure she's bad news. Don't trust her.' He then glanced at the text from Koala as he rounded the corner of the flight of stairs and started down the next one. It was a simple text asking when he next planned on getting online. Shit. He didn't even tell her he already took on Thriller Bark. She was definitely going to punch him. Sabo tucked his phone back into his pocket without a response. She and her verbal thrashing could wait.

Monet pulled open the door to the second floor and waved them through. "Welcome to the second floor, boys. This is where a good portion of the research done for One Piece takes place. It's not as busy as it was back in production, but they're still working to advance the system and stay ahead of the market to ensure that the Dragon remains the top competitor."

Sabo emerged from the stairwell to find himself in an almost glaringly white hallway lined with doors. Some were open, some were not, and some had large windows through which you could peak inside. It was a stark contrast to the darkness and openness of the floor above them.

"Follow me and I'll see if we can find you someone who can actually talk to you more about what they do here. I know a little bit of everything that we do in Outlook Labs, but this is way outside my realm of study." Monet explained as she led the two of them down the hallway and then turned right at the first crossroad.

Sabo glanced through one of the windows as they passed, finding a room full of medical equipment monitoring someone who was in dive. Someone in a lab coat, maybe a doctor, was sitting in a chair next to the machine and holding a clipboard. There was a screen imbedded into the machine that displayed the face of the player within as they talked with the man sitting next to the bed.

"What's going on in there?" Sabo asked as they passed beyond the view of the window.

"I'm not sure." Money admitted. "Not my area."

It wasn't long before they were introduced to a Dr. Vegapunk and were led around the floor, Monet tagging along behind them. Sabo caught on pretty quickly that Monet was conveniently placing herself in the way of anything that Sabo's eyes might stray towards by blocking computer screens and standing in the way of any documents lying about. Workspaces were even unusually tidy when they approached. Sabo couldn't blame them, though. This was all closely guarded information and it wouldn't do for any of it to potentially get leaked out to their competitors.

It was a surprise at all that Monet had even led them down here. Perhaps keeping her eyes glued to everything Sabo and Kid was the trade off, however. There was also the factor of his name working into this. She probably would have said no if he'd been anyone else. Sabo still couldn't sell if Monet was in on the whole conspiracy or just doing the logical thing, though. Sabo was strongly leaning towards her being on the in about whatever was going on here.

There were a lot of remarkable things that the research team was working on, but most of it went right over Sabo's head. The thing that stuck out the most however was his brief encounter with Crocodile. He been allowed into a testing room under the condition that Kid stay outside and that Sabo signed a disclosure agreement, binding him by oath to not talk about anything that he saw in that room publicly.

"Oh, it's you again." Crocodile (or Jon Swasey?) rudely greeted him upon entry from a computer screen. "So they let you in here? Whatever."

A quick glance over Crocodile's surroundings told Sabo that the AI was currently within the One Piece world. Sabo caught the eye of someone standing off to the side. The man's eyebrows drew together slightly, hard gaze wavering for just an instant before there was a faint shake of his head. Almost as if it were a warning. A warning against what? Who was he? It took a moment but then it clicked. Black suit, white tie, top hat, and weird goatee. It was the masked man from CP9 that had come to him in Thriller Bark. Only now he wasn't wearing his mask and there was a pigeon sitting on his shoulder. It seemed that he recognized Sabo, too.

"Lucci! What's the status on the new AI?" Crocodile demanded, turning towards the member of CP9.

Lucci's gaze immediately hardened into steel as Crocodile turned, that faint display of emotion gone in an instant. "He's still not cooperating, sir."

"Damn it." Crocodile swore. "We might have to pull the plug on his event then." Crocodile frowned and turned his gaze back to whatever device was recording him in order to look at Sabo. "I'd show you Blackbeard so you can get a good understanding of what we do here, but it doesn't seem like you'll be getting the chance."

"Reminds me, what are you guys going to do with Eneru?" Sabo asked, remembering that the self-proclaimed god had been an uncooperative AI as well.

"We were forced to kill him." Crocodile responded bluntly. "He was of little use to use when it was determined that there was no way we could recycle him so we had to toss him in the can."

Sabo raised an eyebrow as he considered the implications. If Eneru had also been a real person than perhaps that was the hesitation for getting rid of him in the first place. Or maybe Eneru was really just the product of some skynet shit. Sabo couldn't keep making excuses for Celestial, but he still needed concrete proof that every one of the other complex AI were also once living people. Sabo mentally sighed. This was going to be difficult. He was in way over his head. If only he could find something, anything to get him onto the right track without doing anything illegal.

"Who's the brat? Zehaha" a new voice laughed from within One Piece and the feed was suddenly cut, leaving behind a single, thin, brownish line on the screen.

"We'll leave him to Lucci." Crocodile's voice returned, the brownish line bouncing with the levels of his voice. It was in that moment that Sabo became re-aware that he was seriously dealing with an AI and not just Jon Swasey from Europe. Or was Jon Swasey even in Europe? Shit, was he dead, too? Sabo had a sneaking suspicion that if he was, it might have been by choice.

But what was with that look Lucci had given him?

There was a knock on the door behind him and Sabo turned as it opened to reveal Monet standing there. "Sorry to cut the talk short, but we've gotta move on. Tight Schedule. I've been called back to work."

Sabo nodded and drew away from the computer and headed for the door.

"You were called to work this morning." Crocodile reminded her. "That's what you should be doing right now, so what the hell you doing escorting around one of Outlook's brats? Get a move on."

Sabo's step faltered slightly at the mention of his father again and he took a deep breath as he resumed his step once more. He couldn't let it keep getting to him like this.

"Yeah, don't think I don't know who you are, Sabo Outlook the Fourth." Crocodile revealed smugly.

If looks could kill computers, Kid's would have shut down the entire building.

Monet, apparently ignoring Kid's boiling rage, said, "There's one more place that we have to visit and then we'll have to end this little escapade. It's too bad that you didn't get a chance to see everything down here." Monet turned to Dr. Vegapunk, who was standing outside the door, and thanked him for escorting them around before whisking Sabo and Kid away before Kid could get any funny ideas.

They stood in front of the elevators, another employee standing there waiting along side them. The man fidgeted slightly and glanced over at them.

"What the fuck are you looking at, huh?" Kid snapped.

The other man flinched and took two steps to the side before whispering, "I'll just take the stairs," and hurried off.

Sabo elbowed Kid in the side as a warning.

"I know. I know." Kid sighed, the elevator dinging upon arrival.

Then something occurred to Sabo. If they were just moving one floor, what was the point of taking the elevator? Monet had insisted on taking he stairs when they were moving just one floor and… they were going up? Sabo watched as Monet pushed the button for the fourth floor. He scrambled to remember what was on that floor.

They arrived before Sabo could remember what it was, but it became obvious as soon as the doors slid open that they were in an office area. The feeling of dread settled in the pit of his stomach as he was ushered out of the elevator. This was the administrative floor. Sabo gripped the strap of his messenger bag tightly in his hands.

Two security guards made themselves known as Monet nodded to them. "You know what to do. I've gotta get back downstairs."

"Come with us." The guard on the right commanded, ushering them down the hallway as Monet returned to the elevator.

"Where are you taking us?" Kid demanded to know.

"You're not going anywhere." The left guard responded as they reached the end of the hallway. "Sabo, if you would." he gestured to the open door of the office before them.

Sabo took a deep breath as he resigned himself to his fate. He stepped into the office, the door closing behind him.

"Hey!" Kid's muffled exclamation reached him from the other side.

The voice of one of the other security guards reached him, but it was much softer and completely indecipherable. There was no way he could figure out what he was saying so Sabo turned his attention away from them. He took a shaky breath and forced himself not to worry. Kid could handle himself. Sabo just hoped that he could handle himself, too.

A glance around the office quickly revealed that Sabo was alone. He wondered how long that would last for as the noise outside of the room subsided. He could take this chance to have a look around if he was quick enough. Someone, and Sabo had a good feeling who, would probably be joining him shortly.

Sabo approached the desk, looking over the filing cabinets tucked away in the corners of the office. His eyes danced over the calendar hanging behind the desk and then drifted down to the desk where a nametag reading "Sabo Outlook III" sat at the front of the desk. Sabo scowled at the name before looking to the computer sitting next to a folder and some stray papers. Sabo stuffed his hands into his pockets and leaned over the desk to look a little bit closer at the papers, his right hand feeling he flash drive in his pocket. All he could really make out from the paper was the name "Marshall Teach." It probably wasn't a good idea to touch, though, so Sabo straightened once more.

There was a commotion outside the door again and Sabo quickly retreated from the desk, pulling his hands from his pockets.

"Let go of me!" Kid's voice boomed. Sabo took a couple of steps towards the door before it flew open in front of him, making Sabo recoil, gaze dropping instinctively to the floor.

Sabo's eyes went wide as he spotted Kid laying on the hallway floor, arms wrenched behind his back and yelling obscenities like that was how he breathed. There was blood trickling from a cut on the side of his face and dripping down to stain the blue carpet.

"What did you do to him?" Sabo asked, wrenching his gaze away from Kid to look at the man standing in the doorway. It was no surprise to him that it was his father, but he still froze in panic at the sight.

"More like what did your guard dog do to _me_." Outlook snarled, a handkerchief pressed to his face and stained with blood. Spots of the crimson liquid dotted the front of his suit and tie and Sabo couldn't help but feel both smug and terrified at the sight. "You're lucky I need you to cooperate right now, so if you would, tell your mutt to calm down."

Sabo's hands clenched into fists as his eyes darted back to Kid. He gave him a pleading look, hoping that Kid wouldn't do anything more than he already had. The door closed, effectively shutting him in with the man he hated most.

Sabo turned his gaze back to his father with resignation, eyes fixed to the tie on his chest.

"Take a seat, boy." Outlook commanded, voice stuffy behind the handkerchief. He gestured to the chair in front of his desk as he took the office chair behind it.

Sabo hesitated but did as he was told. "What do you want from me?" Sabo asked, eyes drifting a little higher out of curiosity and seeing blood. Sabo had to wonder if Kid had punched him with his flesh or his metal hand. Sabo hoped his father wouldn't take it out on him.

"For you to come back to the family." Outlook responded as if it should have been obvious. He tugged the box of tissues closer to him, pulling the handkerchief away from his face. Judging by the crookedness of the nose, Kid had punched him hard enough to probably break it. Good.

"I'm not coming back." Sabo refused as Outlook pulled a couple of tissues from the box and pressed them to his nose tenderly.

"I don't think you have a choice." Outlook countered, looking at his reflection in his computer screen. Judging by his scowl, he must have noticed it was crooked, too. Served him right, but it was still massively stupid of Kid. Sabo really hoped Kid wouldn't be arrested.

"What makes you say that?" Sabo asked, still watching as Outlook cursed and grabbed another tissue, eyes running across his body. Searching. Searching for what? Sabo wasn't sure anymore.

"Judging by the paper shreds in the lobby, I assume that you know Stelly's been arrested, yes?" Outlook asked, jamming a tissue up his nose as someone came into the room with a bag of ice.

"What does that have to do with me?" Sabo growled as they handed Outlook the bag of ice and then departed once more.

"Well, he won't be going to jail, our lawyers will make sure of that." Outlook began as he pressed the ice to his swollen nose. "But his public image is ruined. He did kill three people while driving under the influence, after all. He's always has been a PR nightmare." Outlook sighed. No surprise. Stelly was even a dick when they were kids.

"I still don't see how any of this matters." Sabo furrowed his eyebrows.

"I think you've had enough fun prancing around with those two boys out in Texas. Your vacation's been long enough. You should be out of high school by now, right? It's time you come back." Outlook declared.

"Ace and Luffy have nothing to do with this and I'm never coming back." Sabo denied.

"Did you miss the part where I said that you don't have a choice?" Outlook reminded him, voice raised as he leaned forward to rest his elbows on the desk, one hand still holding the ice to his face as he stared into Sabo's eyes.

Sabo flinched, eyes darting to the side before darting back to his face as he steeled himself to say, "I'm twenty, I have plenty of choice. Did you miss the part where you gave me up?"

"But now the situation has changed, boy." Outlook pulled the ice away from his face and wiggled his nose before replacing the ice to his face. "You're on Celestial's radar now."

Sabo scowled. He didn't need to remind him of that "So what?"

"If you come back now, go into business, and take your place at my company's head office in New York then nothing will happen to you or anyone else around you." Outlook explained.

"What do you mean by that?" Sabo asked, CP9's warning flashing through his mind.

"I'm giving you an out. If you rejoin the company then you're untouchable, but also silent. Celestial can't touch you if you're my son. And you can't say anything about what you've found. There's no telling what they'll do to you if you don't."

Sabo stood abruptly, nearly knocking the chair he was sitting in backward. "I'm not coming back.

"You don't have a choice." Outlook denied, standing as well, pointing a threatening finger towards Sabo. The light caught the ring on his finger and Sabo shouldn't stop the nervous shudder that ran down his spine. "If you continue on as you are you will suffer. Celestial will make sure of it."

Sabo, in a bout of courage, slammed his hands on the desk as he leaned in close, "Nothing is worse than living wi-."

 _SMACK_. Sabo's head snapped to the side and he stared wide-eyed at the floor, the tell-tale sting of a slap growing more painful with every millisecond that passed. Sabo raised a shaking hand slowly to his cheek and gingerly touched it as he straightened. He pulled his fingers away from his cheek and stared at his hand absently, shock still working its way through his system as his whole body seemed to start shaking. Sabo stepped back, hands going to the strap of his messenger bag.

Sabo turned for the door.

"Sabo."

"I don't care what you have to say anymore," Sabo stated, voice sounding foreign and weak in his own ears as he stepped away.

"Sabo, please. There's no telling what will hap—"

Sabo scoffed, effectively shutting him up "I doubt you really care about what happens to me. You only care about your company and your reputation."

When no response came, Sabo wrenched open the door, walked out, and slammed it shut behind him.

* * *

A/N: Hooo boy. So that's a wrap!

Thank you all for your follows, favorites, and reviews. I love each and every one of them. Your continued support means a lot to me. This chapter officially makes Playing With Dragons the longest thing that I have ever written!

To be continued...


	12. Ch 12: The Warning Prt 2

A/N: I'd like to take this time to let you know that School will be starting in two weeks, so the release schedule is going to start getting unpredictable, but I wont let it get out of hand. Also in two weeks, I'll be at Matsuricon cosplaying Sabo, so the next chapter will probably be a bit late seeing as how the day after I get back is my first day of classes. But who knows. I'll do my best.

And to the reviewer that was too lazy to log in, yes! Robin will be making an appearance. I haven't forgotten about my favorite One Piece lady! Law will be making his debut in about 3-4 chapters if things go as planned, and Robin wont be too far behind him.

Without further ado:

* * *

 **Chapter Twelve**

Sabo took a deep breath and looked at Kid, who was seated on a bench situated between two bushy plants outside of Outlook Labs. When Sabo had left the room and saw that Kid wasn't anywhere to be seen, Sabo had assumed the worse. Kid had definitely been arrested and was on his way to jail right that moment – along with his way out of this hellhole with his father. But, lo and behold, there Kid was, sitting outside with a scowl on his face, his arms crossed, legs extended out in front of him, and blood slowly dripping from his chin to his shirt.

"Hey." Sabo greeted softly, drawing Kid's gaze upwards.

"I told you I'd punch him if I ever saw his face." Kid tiredly excused, lifting his metal fist and shaking it. The hint of blood staining the metal plating had Sabo wondering if the blood was Outlook's or Kid's.

"Yeah, and it was incredibly stupid of you." Sabo reprimanded. "What if they'd arrested you?"

"I don't care." Kid dismissed.

"But _I_ do!" Sabo responded, surprised by the sharpness of his own voice. Sabo signed and ran his hands through his hair, channeling his built up stress and frustration into the action.

Kid gave Sabo an evaluating look before changing the subject "How'd it go?"

Sabo gestured wordlessly at his face with a frustrated huff. "Isn't it obvious?" he scoffed as he allowed the topic change.

"He hit you!?" Kid exclaimed, going tense as both hands curled into fists. "I swear to god Sabo. I'm gonna-"

"You're going to do nothing." Sabo cut him off before sighing in resignation. He gingerly touched his cheek before changing the subject, "I'm pretty sure the only reason they let us onto the second floor was to stall until he showed up." Sabo's arms dropped to his sides. They'd rarely answered any of his questions, only deflected them, told him what he already knew, or used such technical language that it was hard to keep up. Sabo wouldn't even tell if he'd learned anything knew at this point, too veiled by anger and frustration to process anything that had happened before his talk with Outlook. Sabo pulled his thoughts back on the present situation and eyed Kid, "What about you? How'd you manage to walk away after what you'd done?"

Kid shrugged, flesh hand instinctively reaching across his face to feel the dried trails of blood smeared on his cheek. "Seems we're not the only ones who hate him." Kid mused, staring at the blood residue on his fingers. "I assured them that I wasn't going to try anything else, I just couldn't help punching the bastard in the face at least once but now I wanna punch him a few dozen more times."

Sabo sighed again before sifting through his bag to see if he had anything in his bag to clean up the blood or patch Kid up with. He usually always had something in his bag just in case Luffy got himself hurt, but it seemed he was out of luck today. "C'mon, Let's get you cleaned up." Sabo beckoned, offering a hand to help Kid stand.

Kid waved him off and slowly stood on his own. "I appreciate the offer, but your shrimpy arms are useless." Kid snickered softly before raising a hand to his temple to feel the small cut and pulling it away with a frown, looking a bit dazed as he looked at the fresh blood. "Ah, fuck." Kid whispered under his breath. He grabbed Sabo's shoulder as he steadied himself and shook his head slightly, looking a bit more collected that he'd been after he initially stood.

"I think I should drive us home tonight." Sabo decided, pulling Kid along to find a bathroom for him to get cleaned up in.

"Probably a good idea." Kid acknowledged. "That guy got me pretty good, but are you sure? You seemed a little shaken up"

"I'm fine now, the further away from him I get the better off I'll be, but we don't need to take you to get looked at, do we?" Sabo asked, pulling Kid into the building across the street and to the bathroom, ignoring the startled glances of people passing by.

"Nah. You know I've had worse. I'm no wuss, so I'll be fine. Head wounds bleed more than they're worth." Kid dismissed.

"And they're also more dangerous than they look." Sabo reminded him.

"I've got a hard head." Kid mused.

"And you certainly can't lose any more of the brain cells." Sabo teased, pushing Kid against one of the sinks before grabbing a bunch of paper towels.

"M.I.T. rejects 92% of all applicants. They seem to think that I've got plenty of brain cells." Kid retorted as he took the offered paper towels from Sabo and set all but one of them aside.

"Sure you do." Sabo smirked as he watched Kid wet one of the paper towels under the sink and began to clean the blood off of his face. "You're going to have one nasty black eye in the morning." Sabo mused, studying Kid's reflection in the mirror.

"Probably." Kid agreed "But I don't think it'll be too bad." Kid dropped the first blood soaked paper towel into the sink and then wet a second one.

Sabo turned and leaned against the neighboring sink, letting the companionable silence stretch between them as Kid cleaned himself up. It wasn't until Kid was drying his face off with another paper towel from the wad that Sabo spoke up again "Think you'll be up for one more stop or do you think we should head straight home?"

"Depends on what you have in mind." Kid allowed as he inspected the cut on his forehead. It was deceptively small for the amount of blood that had come out of it. He'd be fine.

"I got you in for a look around the robotics lab." Sabo revealed.

Kid paused and then turned to look at Sabo "Really?"

"Yeah, as a, y'know…" Sabo shrugged, eyes drifting towards the ground, studying his shoelaces as if they'd suddenly become the most interesting thing in the room. "As a thank you for coming out here with me. If you're up to it of course."

Kid picked up another paper towel from the stack, wet it, and then began cleaning off the smear of blood on his metal hand. He was quiet as he considered the offer for a moment before saying "Y'know, a week ago I probably would have jumped at the offer, but now? I think I'd rather just go home." Kid admitted and he turned and leaned against the bathroom sink again, pressing the last paper towel to his forehead after having used it to dry his hands. All the cleaning had started up a slow flow of blood again.

"Sorry." Sabo smirked, no real emotion behind it.

"Not your fault." Kid reprimanded. "I'm wanting to go professional with med tech rather than industrial, anyway. " he prodded Sabo's shoulder with his free hand and gave a half smile "C'mon. Let's head back."

Sabo nodded in agreement "Alright"

They stopped by the main building once again on their way out, asking Coby to pass on the message that they wouldn't be paying the robotics lab a visit. The boy had responded by pulling out a first aid kit from his book bag and handing Kid a bandage to cover the small cut on his forehead and then assuring them that he'd let the lab know. While Coby was making the call, Sabo and Kid left the building and headed back to Kid's car, Kid tossing Sabo the keys so that he could drive.

"This is weird." Kid mused, situating himself in the passenger seat of his car.

"What is?" Sabo asked as he slot the key into the ignition and started up the vehicle.

"Sitting in the passenger seat of my car. It's weird. It feels wrong. I don't think I've ridden shotgun in a car since I got my license, actually. That was ages ago." Kid realized, pulling down the visor above his head so that he could use its mirror as he ripped open the bandage's packaging. "I'm also pretty sure this is the first time that I've ever seen you drive."

Sabo chewed his lower lip as he finished setting the air conditioning and put the car into drive. "That might be because this is the second time I've driven a car since I got my license."

Kid froze in the middle of fitting the bandage over the cut on his forehead. "Put the car back into park. You are not driving."

"Hey, hey, hey, now. I'll be fine. I got myself here and back just fine on Monday. We won't die." Sabo assured him, already pulling out of the parking lot.

Kid narrowed his eyes before finally applying the bandage and settling back into his seat "Fine. I'll trust you." Kid slapped the visor back up and settled back into his seat. "Do you remember how to get back?"

"Hell no." Sabo admitted.

Kid blinked. "I'll set up the GPS." Kid sighed.

About twenty minutes into the drive and making idle chitchat, all the things he'd forgotten about his visit prior to his meeting on the fourth floor hit him like a train. "Useless. Make yourself useful and get out my notepad." Sabo interrupted the conversation.

Kid blinked a few times, "What?"

"Notepad. Quickly before I forget again." Sabo urged.

Kid set his phone with the GPS open into the cup holder and roused himself to action. He picked up Sabo's messenger bag from the floor by his feet and opened it up. "You're notepad?"

"Yup and my pen. You're gonna write some stuff down for me before I forget about it again and then I'm going to hope that I can read it later." Sabo's eyes glanced away from the road for split seconds at a time as he watched Kid rifle through his bag and pull out what he'd asked for.

"Okay." Kid prompted, clicking the pen and waiting for Sabo's instructions.

"Blue tab. Next available page." Sabo commanded.

"Okay. Found it." Kid replied after a beat.

Sabo glanced over to make sure that Kid was in the desired section before saying "Marshall Teach. h. Marshall Teach, got it?"

"Yup. Got it." Kid confirmed.

Sabo double-checked anyway.

"Hey. Eyes on the road." Kid scolded "I got this. Anything else?"

"Front Page." Sabo commanded, keeping his eyes on the road this time.

"Okay."

"List of event bosses, see it?" Sabo asked, resisting the urge to look and point it out to him.

"Yes. I'm not blind."

"Write down Blackbeard." Sabo instructed, tapping the wheel with his fingers and wishing he wasn't driving right now.

"Done."

"Now, right down cancelled with a question mark." Sabo continued, mind jumping around faster than Kid was writing.

"Okay."

"Yellow tab. Tell me wh—"

"There."

"Okay, good. Find a clear spot somewhere and write down 'Jon Swasey's family' also with a question mark."

A longer beat filled with the sound of a scribbling pen "Okay. Got it. Jeeze. Do your notes have to be this organized?"

"Shut up. Front page again." Sabo's right hands left the steering wheel to gesture to the notepad.

Kid sighed heavily and flipped back to the front "Okay."

"CP9. See it?"

"Yup."

"Write down Lucci under it."

"How's that spelled?"

"I donno just write it the way it sounds. All that's important is that I know what it is."

"Kay."

"Dash question mark."

"So many question marks."

"Means I need to look into it or think on it more."

"Whatever nerd. Is that it?"

"Nope." Sabo denied as he thought back over the day, picking apart the things that he'd gathered and occasionally pointing Kid to tabs and page locations in order to write down the tidbits of information he recalled. At one point he had Kid just start reading his notebook out to him so that he could remember things to make note of or to cross out in his notepad. Things like how John Gremillion had been to the animation department, the addition of Eneru's AI having been killed, and other extraneous notes in the blue section about the whole of celestial being the issue or if it was just the one department, and some of the information that Coby had given him about the Labs' history. It wasn't until there were only ten minutes left in their hour-long drive that Sabo told Kid that he could put the notes away.

"You sure that's it this time?" Kid asked, paused in the middle of opening Sabo's messenger bag again.

"Yeah. That's it." Sabo confirmed and Kid dropped the note pad and pen inside and then flipped the flap back over.

"Shit." Kid cursed.

"What?" Sabo glanced over at him briefly as the GPS's next instructions chimed from the cup holder.

"We haven't gone to the store yet." Kid realized.

"Do you have Leo's shopping list with you?" Sabo asked.

The following silence was all the answer that Sabo needed.

"Call Apoo. He should be home right?" Sabo requested, spotting a grocery store at the end of the block and turning on his signal.

"We're, like, ten minutes from home can't we just go back and get it?" Kid whined.

"But we're already here and I'm the one driving." Sabo countered.

"Fine." Kid groaned, picking up his phone and cancelling the rout before pulling up his contacts as Sabo parked the car in the lot. "He owes me a few favors anyway."

* * *

Sabo's last day in Boston passed in a flash. He'd opted to set aside all of his research and spend the day with Kid in his workshop while his friend finished up a project for Luffy. The next thing he knew it was Saturday and he was standing in the lobby of the Boston airport, saying his good-byes to his best friend.

"C'mere." Kid gestured, holding out his arms. Sabo eyes him wearily, wondering what Kid was up to. Apparently he'd taken too long because Kid just sighed in exasperation before insisting, "Get your blonde ass over here so I can hug you, god damn it. The last time I saw you was two years ago and I don't know when the fuck I'll see you again," as he grabbed Sabo by the arms and pulled him into a bone crushing one-sided hug and lifting him off the ground. "Call me and don't hang up on me when you get back, kay?"

"Okay, mom." Sabo groaned, his arms pinned to his side. "Can you please put me down now?"

Kid let Sabo's feet touch the ground again but didn't let him go. "Seriously, though." Kid demanded before lowering his voice, "I'm worried about you, Sabotage. If shit's happening, let me know. I don't want to find out months later that you're dead." Kid pulled away from Sabo and held him at arm's length with a frown on his face.

"It'll be fine." Sabo assured him, patting his friend on the arm.

"I hope so." Kid sighed, giving Sabo's arms one last squeeze before letting him go "Now go catch your flight."

Sabo nodded and pulled away but stopped, turning to look at Kid one last time and saying "Same to you, by the way."

"But I'm not going anywhere?" Kid's head tilted a fraction to one side.

"No, if something happens… make sure I know, okay?" Sabo clarified. "I'm sorry for dragging you into this."

Kid waved a hand dismissively "I'll be fine. I can handle myself."

Sabo pressed his lips together and nodded. "I had a fun week. Talk to you later."

"Enjoy your flight!" Kid waved.

"I doubt I will." Sabo smirked as he turned, waving back before heading deeper into the terminal.

* * *

An all too familiar shout reached Sabo's ears as he tugged his luggage out into the waiting area and he spotted Luffy sprinting towards him from across the airport. Sabo pulled his phone from his ear and interrupted Kid with a distracted "I gotta go." before hanging up on Kid during their promised phone call. Sabo quickly tucked his phone into the front pocket of his messenger bag as he let his suitcase rest on the ground, bracing himself for the inevitable.

"Sabo!" Luffy yelled a second time, crashing into Sabo's waiting embrace and wrapping him up in a full body hug, knocking them both to the ground.

"Hey, Lu." Sabo grunted, wrapping his arms around his little brother to return the hug.

"I missed you." Luffy's muffled voice mumbled.

"Missed you, too, bud. But, god, you're all sweaty." Sabo grimaced, removing his hand from Luffy's back and realizing that Luffy was wearing a jersey.

Luffy pulled back a little sheepishly and smiled "Sorry, shishishi. I reffed a game right before we came here and I guess I'm still a little sweaty. It's hot out." Luffy gave an exhausted huff, sticking his tongue out for emphasis about the heat "But I kinda also sprinted here all the way from the car. So that probably didn't help."

"And you didn't get lost?" Sabo teased as Luffy got off of him. Sabo sat up with a groan, feeling the ache of the impact all over his body.

"My big brother senses are top notch!" Luffy boasted. "C'mon. Let's go meet up with Ace and Makino." Luffy grinned, grabbing Sabo's arm and tugging him off the ground before leading him back the way he came, his cleats noisily treading across the tile floors.

"I was gonna ask how you managed to get here." Sabo smirked. "I was about to just assume that you ran all the way here from the school." As if on cue, Sabo's phone buzzed and he made an effort to fish it back out of his bag.

Ace: _he find u?_

"Speak of the devil." Sabo hummed, swiping the message and unlocking his phone so that he could type out a response.

"Is it Ace?" Luffy asked.

"Yup." Sabo confirmed as he hit send, informing Ace that Luffy had, indeed, managed to find him and that they were on their way out.

"Aaaace!" Luffy called out a moment as they turned a corner. He waved his arms in greeting as Sabo looked up from putting away his phone. "I found Sabo!"

Ace glanced at his own phone, having received Sabo's text as he waved back. He tucked it back into his pocket before jogging to meet them. He slung an arm about Sabo's shoulders and leaned his weight on him a little as they walked. "Did you have fun?" he asked.

"Yeah! It was great. A little… Eventful, but overall great." Sabo allowed "Oh, Luffy, before I forget." Sabo tapped Luffy on the shoulder as Ace let Sabo go.

"Yeah?" Luffy looked up curiously as he skipped along beside him.

"I brought something back for you." Sabo smiled.

"Is it from Kid?" Luffy asked, eyes lighting up.

"Yup." Sabo confirmed with a nod.

"Sweet!" Luffy squeaked before dashing ahead a little to meet up with Makino "Makino! Kid made me something again!"

"Did he, now?" Makino smiled, meeting Luffy halfway.

Luffy turned as Ace and Sabo caught up to them, Sabo explaining "We spent a lot of our downtime in the workshop as he was building it. I think he'll love this one. Got an expert opinion on what it should look like from one of his professors."

"How did he get that? School doesn't start for another three weeks, right?" Makino asked.

"Kid's practically got his professor on speed dial. They build robots together for the battle bot tournaments in the summer. Think they're going to be on TV next year or something." Sabo explained, raising his arm to glance at his watch for the time.

Luffy snatched Sabo's wrist and craned his neck to read the time "Ah! It's five o'clock! We gotta go! The middle schoolers have practice at six!" Luffy panicked. "How long does it take to get to the middle school from here?"

"About 45 minutes." Makino estimated.

"Then we gotta leave right now!" Luffy insisted, circling behind Sabo and Ace and shoving them forwards.

"Gah, We're going!" Ace flailed and Sabo stumbled ungracefully.

"Okay, c'mon! Move your butts!" Luffy rushed ahead again, cleats sounding like a heard of galloping horses on the tile floor.

"Luffy! You're going to get lost!" Sabo called after him, jogging to catch up and forcing Luffy to stop to look back at them with his words.

"But you guys aren't moving fast enough!" Luffy whined.

Ace hesitated a step so that Sabo got ahead of him before circling around to Sabo's other side. He picked up Sabo's suitcase and hoisted it into the air with zero effort. "C'mon" Ace urged, running ahead and leading the way to the car.

"Show off." Sabo muttered and jogged after them, hoping they didn't have to go too far.

Sabo breathlessly called shotgun halfway through the parking lot, forcing his older brother into the backseat with Luffy for the drive back to Summit. Sabo turned in the front seat and stuck his tongue out at Ace, the raven flicked Sabo's forehead. "Well, I get to sit with Luffy." Ace countered, sticking his tongue out as well.

"Ace." Makino scolded.

"He did it first!" Ace protested.

"You are not a child, anymore, Ace. You, too, Sabo." Despite Makino's scolding tone, there was still a soft smile on her lips that only Sabo could see.

"Makino~ yelled at you~" Luffy chanted in a sing song-y voice.

"Shut up, Luffy. We all know you're the one who gets in trouble the most." Ace shot back.

Luffy just laughed.

"Where's Shanks?" Sabo asked.

"He's on another business trip." Makino explained before answering the question on the tip of Sabo's tongue before he could ask it "Italy this time."

"He got back from France the day before Luffy's birthday, didn't he? Another trip so soon?" Sabo asked curiously.

"There's a big business convention out there that they wanted him to go to. Summer is usually the busiest for him." Makino shrugged.

"When I graduate I'm gonna get a job like Shanks so I can travel around the world, too." Luffy declared.

Ace gave an exaggerated gasp, "And leave us behind?"

"Yeah, that's not cool. What about your big brothers? What are we going to do without you?" Sabo pouted, looking at Luffy through the rear view mirror.

Luffy shrugged "I'll send you post cards from everywhere I go. Write letters. I donno. I just wanna travel." Luffy mused, looking out the window. "Maybe I'll be, like, an archeologist or something. Then I can be like Nathan Drake, Lara Croft, or Indiana Jones and explore ancient ruins."

"You know the real thing isn't quite as interesting as all of that." Ace reminded Luffy.

Luffy sighed "Yeah… But One Piece has forever ruined me. Life without adventure is bo-oring. Maybe I'll become a salvager." Luffy mused. "Yeah salvaging. That's what Nathan Drake did when he wasn't destroying lost cities. Maybe I'll learn scuba diving and do that."

They dropped Luffy off in the back parking lot of the middle school, Luffy sprinting for the storage shed to prep for practice the moment his feet touched the ground.

"Shit, he left his stuff." Ace straightened in the back seat. "Hold on." Makino stopped the car again, allowing Ace to get out, pop the trunk, and grab Luffy's duffle bag and water bottle from where they were wedged in with Sabo's suitcase. Ace sprinted back across the parking lot and across the field to catch up with Luffy. Sabo watched as Ace approached Luffy with his stuff. Luffy gestured to the benches resting at the midfield of the soccer field as he hauled a bag of soccer balls from the shed.

"It's weird, y'know." Sabo mused as he watched, elbow resting against the window, face propped on his fist.

"Hm?" Makino hummed, prompting Sabo to continue.

"It's hard not to see the little crybaby I knew ten years ago whenever I look at Luffy, but he's grown up so much. Matured in a way that he didn't sacrifice his silly charm. It's weird knowing that he's grown to be such a leader. And he's so good with kids, too. All the kids he coaches and the kids in the latchkey program love him." Sabo smiled softly as he watched some of the kids who'd arrived early to practice help Luffy carry things out to the field where Ace was setting down Luffy's duffle bag. "As his big brother, it's strange knowing that so many people look up to him now, but I can't help but also feel proud. I suppose it's only natural."

"He's certainly got a leader's charm." Makino mused as Sabo watched Ace make his way back to the SUV.

"An incompetent one, but a leader nonetheless" Sabo agreed with a smile. "Even his crew of weirdos in One Piece follows him without hesitation, and they're all older than him. I feel like they spend more time ordering him around than he them, but he's still undoubtedly the captain." He mused.

Ace shut the trunk and climbed back into the back seat. Makino put the car back into drive as soon as Ace was buckled in and they rode the remaining five minutes to the house in silence. As the two brothers crossed the lawn to get to their own house, Makino had them agreeing to come over for dinner after Luffy got home from practice before they went inside.

"Home, sweet home." Sabo sighed, resting a hand against the wall as he wiggled his converse off his feet without having to untie them. Ace flipped on the lights for him and set down Sabo's suitcase. Sabo paused, staring down the hallway and into the kitchen. He could see piles of folded papers scattered across the island outlined by the light from the hallway. They appeared to be letters, perhaps. Where those…

Ace caught Sabo's gaze and chewed on his lower lip before softly admitted "I couldn't ask you to face the demons of your past without facing my own, yeah?" Ace rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. "No one likes a hypocrite."

"So those are _the_ letters?" Sabo asked, straightening and heading down the hallway, abandoning his suitcase in the doorway.

"Yeah, I had the last few days off so I've been reading them whenever Luffy's working or volunteering or whatever with the kids and the soccer programs." Ace said as he followed Sabo into the kitchen.

Sabo stared at all of the letters piled on the island, figuring that there must have been at least a hundred. "I didn't know you kept them."

"I just… it…" Ace sighed, struggling to put the words together "I couldn't bring myself to just throw them away, so…"

"So you kept everything single letter he ever sent you." Sabo whispered, his fingers brushing along the edge of one of the tri-folded pages. It was immediately apparent to him that they were all written in Portuguese. Sabo still vaguely remembered everything he'd learned about the language, having heard it enough when he first moved in with them to vaguely understand it when it was spoken to him, but that was years ago. He doubted he remembered much of it now.

"Yeah. I kept them and reading them has been…" Ace sighed heavily, absently picking one of them up and glancing over it, "enlightening."

"Do you still hate him?" Sabo asked curiously, glancing up at Ace.

Ace deepened the furrow of his brows and bit his upper lip before admitting "I don't know yet." He ran a hand through his hair, pulling the raven locks out of his face and holding them on top of his head. "I lifetime is a long time to spend hating someone… it… doesn't just… go away I guess." Ace's shoulders slouched in defeat as he released his hair.

Sabo's gaze turned sympathetic as he watched Ace's eyes glance over the letters that had already been opened and spread across the table. "I don't know why he kept sending them… I never gave him a reason too. I guess Avô was the one that gave him the address when he went to visit them all those years ago."

"Are you going to write him back?" Sabo asked, resting his hands on the counter top and leaning his stomach against it.

Ace shrugged pathetically "Maybe… I just… don't know what I'd tell him.' 'Hey dad! Sorry that I haven't responded to your letters for the last eight years, but I've hated you my entire life!'" Ace mocked in an exaggerated, jovial tone. Ace dropped the letter in his hands back onto the counter top and rubbed a hand down his freckled face, leaving his hand covering his mouth, his other arm wrapped around his torso as he stared critically at the letters scattered across the counter.

Sabo took a deep breath, gaze dropping to the marbled counter top before softly admitting "I saw my old man again on Thursday and we… talked." When Ace said nothing Sabo continued, not daring to meet Ace's gaze right now as he chuckled mirthlessly "Kid punched him in the face, can you believe it? Broke his nose." He smiled half-heartedly down at the island.

Ace wasn't taking the bait. "What'd you talk about?"

Sabo bought himself time by pulling one of the bar stools out so that he could take a seat, letting the silence stretch between them until it started to become uncomfortable "He asked me to go back." he whispered, hoping Ace wouldn't hear.

"WHAT." No such luck. "You didn't agree did you?!"

"Of course not!" Sabo spat, eyes shooting up to lock with Ace's steel grey gaze to assure his brother that he wasn't lying to him.

Ace visibly relaxed, coaxing another one of the barstools out and taking a seat across from Sabo. It was the seat that Ace had obviously spent a lot of time occupying lately if the spread of letters in a perfect arc around him had anything to say. "Then what's the problem?"

"I… I can't shake this bad feeling." Sabo admitted, hand clutching at his chest as his gaze drifted down again.

"You don't think you should have gone back, do you…?" Ace asked quietly, as if saying it any louder than as a breath might make the affirmation of the decision more plausible.

Sabo nodded, shook his head, and shrugged all at once, saying nothing as he gestured helplessly. He was unsure if he could even say for sure that he wasn't second-guessing his decision at all.

"You can't." Ace insisted. "You made the right decision. Your place is right here with us."

Ace's strong tone coaxed Sabo's gaze back up to meet his "But what if something terrible happens. I've gotten myself tangled in something dangerous. They've threatened me, Ace. During Thriller Bark I was met by CP9 and Celestial threatened me over the information that I gathered while I was in Boston this week. My old man said that if I went back then they wouldn't be able to do anything. Even _he_ knows that this is dangerous. If I go back than nothing will happen to me or to you or to Luffy or to Kid. I can't guarantee that you guys will be safe if I don't go back. So maybe I should have agreed rather than let my temper get the best of me." Sabo admitted, his hands curling into fists in order to hide how much they were shaking.

"No. Whatever may come, we fight it together." Ace insisted. "We're brothers. Nothing is a threat as long as the three of us stand together. I know you made the right choice. You can't go back there and be miserable again. I wont let you. Your place is with us."

Sabo still wasn't so sure about that. "I'm starting to wonder if this is all worth it…" he sighed, gaze drifting to the side as he thought over the things he'd found and the impossibility of anything being able to be done about it.

Ace leaned forward, resting his elbows on the counter. "Start from the top. You promised you'd tell me what was going on, and now's as good a time as any."

Sabo bit his lip, strongly hesitating. He wanted to confide everything to his brother, but he was unwilling to get him wrapped up in it all. More people already knew about what he was doing than was safe. "I can't. I can't tell you everything, not yet."

"No secrets?" Ace reminded him.

Sabo sighed in frustrations "I know. I just… you're right. You have a right to know about the things that might be putting me and everyone else who knows me in danger." Despite saying that, Sabo still had his reservations. He sucked in a sharp breath and then crossed his arms on the counter top, resting his head on them and staring at the letter closest to him. He wiggled out one of his arms and messed with the corner of the paper as he collected his thoughts. The silence between them lasted only a few seconds before Sabo began to recite the important events and information that he'd gathered over the last week. He glossed over the stuff with Outlook because they'd already talked about it and he wasn't about to mention how he'd slapped him. He did mention what he knew about CP9 and the vague threats that they made against him coupled with the threats from his father. He brought up what he knew about the AI, but didn't mention Tashigi or her involvement, left out anything about Zoro involvement, just mentioned the case, what was discovered in it, and how they'd lied and covered it up.

When Sabo was done, the two of them settled into a thoughtful silence. Sabo took a deep breath and straightened on his stool, stretching his arms and cracking his back before relaxing again, letting Ace take all the time he needed to let it all sink in.

"I think…" Ace said softly, but it was almost too loud in the silence that had settled over the house. "You should probably lay off One Piece for a while."

Sabo raised an eyebrow and considered that. It made a lot of sense. He could keep his account from being deleted by just not logging on. But who's to say it wont just be terminated anyway if he took too long to log on? And what about when another event comes around that Sabo needed to investigate? Sabo grunted with dissatisfaction but acknowledged, "Maybe you're right."

A pause and then suddenly Ace sat up straighter on his stool "Shit. What time is it?" Ace asked.

Sabo turned his wrist and glanced at his watch "twenty past seven. Practice should be over soon so you go over and see if Makino needs any help and I'm gonna unpack real quick."

"Okay, good. Not late yet." Ace nodded before giving Sabo a pat on the shoulder "Everything's gonna be fine, so don't worry about it too much, we'll ride this one out, but you should try to lay low for a while." He suggested as he stood.

"Ace, you know that's impossible. I am going to see this through. I wont sit by and hope that it all, just, goes away." Sabo countered.

Ace pressed his lips together, nodding "I know. It's something you gotta do and I respect that, just… don't get too ahead of yourself." Ace smiled at him as he headed out of the kitchen and into the hallway. "Stack those up and hide them in my underwear drawer while you're upstairs, please?"

Sabo glanced down at all of the letters before nodded. "Yeah. I can do that for you."

"Thanks." Ace said as he pulled away from the archway and headed for the door. Sabo heard the door open as Ace said more to himself than to Sabo, "Man, I'm starving." And then the door clicked shut once more.

Sabo eyed the letters all around him and began to pick them up one by one, checking the dates on them so that he could put them in some semblance of an order in the event that Ace ever wanted to read them again. He spotted a rubber band hidden under one of the letters so he used it to tie all the opened letters together before he scooped up the other rubber banded stacks of letters and headed down the hallway.

Tucking all of the letters under one arm, Sabo picked up his suitcase by the door and then hauled it all upstairs. He abandoned the suitcase in the hallway and then took the door on the left side to enter Ace's room, navigating his way over the piles of clothing on the floor to get to the chest of drawers. He dropped the letters onto Ace's messy bed and turned to the dresser. It took a yank and a little bit of wiggling to get the top drawer open, causing some of the stuff piled on top to fall over. Sabo sighed, refusing to pick any of it up.

"God, it's no wonder his floor's a mess. He can't put his god damn clothes into the dresser without wrestling with it." Sabo grumbled before scooping up the letters and dropping them into the early empty underwear drawer. "Does anyone but me do laundry in this house? Jeez. I leave for a week and everything falls apart. I'm surprised the house didn't catch fire." He muttered with a grunt as he forced the drawer closed again with a clatter of falling objects. He stepped back with a satisfied huff before exiting Ace's room and closing the door behind him.

When Sabo got to his room across the hallway, he threw his suitcase onto his bed and zipped it open. He set aside the giant ball of bubble wrap containing Luffy's gift that had been painstakingly duck taped together using multiple sheets of the stuff they'd discovered around the workshop. Once he'd done that he pulled out his Dragon headset and the system that came with it. He stared at them with a frown and scanned his room. He sighed regretfully as he trudged to the opposite side and peered at his bookcase. There was an empty space on the bottom shelf big enough for him to stash his headset and console, so he stored them there before standing once more. He sighed heavily for what felt like the hundredth time that day before turning back to his suitcase. He decided that the rest of it could wait and scooped up Luffy's present before heading over to Makino's, shutting off all the lights on his way out.

* * *

A/N: And that's a wrap!

Thank you all for your continued support! Your follows, favorites, and reviews mean a lot (i know i say that every chapter but they do) and i'm sorry i've been doing a terrible job of responding to all of your reviews. I'm gonna try and be better at that.

Next Chapter: Things get a little dicey.


	13. Ch 13: The Warning Prt 3

A/N: Early Chapter! I've got a lot of last minute convention prep to do and stuff to get for classes yet since i start school as soon as i get back from Matsuricon. Reminder that I will try as hard as I can to keep up a regular schedule, it might not work out that way as I get deeper into the semester. I'm too invested in writing this to let it sit, though, especially now that we're getting into the stuff that I've been itching to write for a year now.

Thanks to JarOfIdeas' Review i'd like to take the time to also say to those that have joined us more recently that I have a series of oneshot/drabbles related to this fic up as well if you want to check them out. I posted them back around chapter 9 when I wasn't able to get a chapter out on time as promised. I deleted the note when I put up the real chapter 9 so those of you newer to the fic might not know about their existences. There's five of them. The other other 5 things i have posted on here.

So without further ado:

* * *

 **Chapter Thirteen**

The bedroom door slammed open just as Sabo was about to finish up compiling the last bit of information that he'd gathered last week into a password locked document saved onto his password locked flash drive. Sabo flinched at the sound, right hand's fingers hovering just over his keys while his left instinctively reached for the pipe at his back that wasn't there. He awkwardly diverted the motion into a scratch at the back of his head as he turned, catching sight of Luffy as his little brother dived onto Sabo's bed. The raven was making mechanical noises with his mouth as he arranged the joints of the new robot toy in his hands (Designed by Franky, built by Kid, and painted by Sabo.)

"Weapons Left!" Luffy called out in a poor mimic of the cyborg's voice before making bullet sounds as Sabo stared at him. "Ahh! The dragon didn't even flinch! We need more power!" Luffy called in a soft, breathy yell, mindful of the fact that Ace was sleeping across the hall. "Su~per leave it to me!" Luffy answered himself, making more mechanical sounds with his mouth as he shifted the limbs of what had been dubbed the Franky Shogun into a new position. Luffy directed the robot toy at Sabo and declared "Franky Radical Beam! Bzzeeeew!"

Sabo indulged Luffy, clutching dramatically at his chest "I've been hit! Your beams of light have proven to be much too powerful for my scales." He dramatically recited, dropping out of his chair. "You slay me!" Sabo finished, falling into a heap on the floor.

"Whaaa! The Shogun defeated the dragon! So cool!" Luffy cheered softly, leaping off the bead. "Su~per!" he called before planting himself on Sabo's back, effectively pinning him to the floor with his weight. "The dragon's been defeated! The town is saved! Whaaaaa!"

Sabo wheezed at the new weight that was now settled over his lower back. "Gah. Luf. Can't breath." Sabo struggled under the teen's weight. Luffy had always been surprisingly dense for his small size. At least, that's what he kept telling himself.

Luffy got up, but only long enough to turn and then drape himself perpendicularly across Sabo's back, taking much of his weight off of Sabo. Sabo craned his neck to look at him as the raven spoke "You should tell Kid to tell Franky that he needs to try and make the Franky Shogun in One Piece. It would be totally awesome." Luffy requested, setting the robot down on the ground before tucking in his elbows and turning to look at Sabo, further distributing his weight off of Sabo.

Sabo relaxed his neck, crossing his arms underneath his chin and staring at the wood trim along the edge of the carpet. "It would be a lot easier if you just told Franky yourself, y'know." Sabo reminded him as his eyes wandered across the carpet. He needed to vacuum.

"Yeah, I know that, but if I did then I wouldn't be able to take advantage of the fact that you actually know someone who knows someone that's on my crew. Like, that's so cool! To think that Franky's a friend of a friend." Luffy paused for a moment before continuing in a softer tone, "I always thought that my crew was… outside my reach, y'know? That I'd never get to see them, or talk to them, or anything outside of the virtual world. I always thought that the moment the game was gone I'd lose those connections. That if someone where caught up in real life things and was unable to play the game anymore, then they'd be gone forever." Luffy's weight shifted on Sabo's back as he felt his little brother relax "To know that even one of them is within real reach in any way is amazing."

"I understand what you mean." Sabo mused, thinking about all of the friends he'd made online over the years and how many of them he'd lost touch with, never to be talked to again.

Luffy suddenly laughed and Sabo craned his neck a little bit to see Luffy's expression. He looked extremely amused as he turned his head to look at Sabo, having felt the blonde shift. "It's hard to imagine Franky as a teacher." Luffy laughed, "He walks around in a speedo!"

Sabo couldn't help the sudden bark of laughter as he dropped his head back down into the carpet "I told Kid."

"You told him?" Luffy laughed.

"I had to! It scarred him for life. He did _not_ want to know that his professor walks around practically naked." Sabo snickered at the memory.

"And I can't imagine him in pants!" Luffy snorted "Did he say if Franky still wears Hawaiian shirts or not?"

"For lectures, he still wears one with a tie. Tie comes off for the workshops, though." Sabo informed him.

Luffy grimaced as Sabo looked over his shoulder at him again. "A tie with a Hawaiian shirt?"

"You have no room to talk." Sabo chided.

"Oh!" Luffy shot up as if he'd just remembered something, torso propped up by his hands.

"What is it?" Sabo asked, taking the opportunity to flip over so that he wasn't lying on his back anymore.

"I just remembered what I actually came in here for." Luffy revealed as he picked up the Shogun with one hand and then sat back on his haunches.

Sabo hummed inquiringly, urging Luffy to continue.

"When are you going to be done with your thingy? Because it's your day off and we should definitely do something now that I'm off work. Preferably in One Piece. And preferably scoping out the new event that they just announced." Luffy requested, definitely not being subtle about it.

"New event?" Sabo furrowed his eyebrows "But it's Friday. Thriller Bark ended two days ago. That's not what their pattern is. Events open on Wednesdays with two weeks between them."

"Yeah, I know. It's weird. They didn't even put out a big announcement about it before hand. I think it's another Mihawk thing. So like. A moving boss. That's really just a one on oneish fight. Not some big crew showdown or whatever." Luffy shrugged. "Anyway, since it's so last second I know that everyone is probably busy and I was wondering if you wanted to check it out with me." Luffy turned a pleading gaze in Sabo's direction, but then tilted his head to the side as he narrowed his eyes in consideration "If we can _find_ the boss."

Sabo frowned "I'm sorry, but I don't know if I should. I haven't gotten on since last week because things are a little tense right now."

"You're probably still on the Sunny then, right? So it's perfect! Pleeeeeeease?" Luffy begged.

"I'm not on the Sunny anymore, actually. I got back on my own ship last Friday, but I don't think I'm far." Sabo glanced up at his laptop then checked the time on his watch "Let me finish up the part I'm working on and then do a little research on the event first so that I know what we might be heading into. Then I'll decide," He relented, looking at Luffy.

Luffy threw his hands in the air with a cheer, falling back onto his ass by the disrupted center of balance but still cheering "Awesome! Hopefully we aren't too far apart then. A week's a long time, so…"

"That's true, but we shouldn't be too far apart because we were headed in generally the same direction, I think. Just, don't be alarmed if we do end up playing and someone shows up to talk to me, though. I'll be expecting them."

"What do you mean?" Luffy frowned.

"My account's been flagged by Celestial, so there's a good chance that it's going to be deleted." Sabo revealed.

Luffy huffed and stuck out his lower lip "Well, you've done nothing wrong do I don't see why they'd have to delete your account like that."

"It's nothing that I've done in the game." Sabo admitted.

Luffy considered that for a moment, sucking in his lips and narrowing his eyes as he thought. Suddenly his eyes lit back up again with understanding "Ah, does this have to do with that thing with Zoro and that thing where you went out to Boston all of a sudden?" Luffy guessed.

Sabo nodded "Kinda." He allowed.

Luffy huffed again loudly. "That's not fair."

"Well." Sabo clapped his hands and rubbed them together "I'm gonna get back to work. The sooner the better, yeah?" Sabo smiled, attempting to lift the mood.

Luffy smiled "Alright." He picked himself up off the ground and then offered Sabo a hand in getting back up. Sabo readily accepted, allowing Luffy to help pull him to his feet.

"I'll let you know when I'm done." Sabo said as he sat back down at his desk.

Luffy grunted his affirmation and wandered out of Sabo's room, only to return a few moments later with his Nintendo 3DS, a bag of chips, and two bottles of cold soda in hand. Luffy flopped back onto Sabo's bed and settled in, placing the drinks and chips next to Sabo's laptop for easy access. Sabo took a chip and crunched on it while he accepted his offered drink and cracked it open. He took a sip as he stared at the words on his screen, mentally picking up where he left off as he twisted the cap back on and set the drink aside.

"Right. Marshall Teach." Sabo muttered under his breath and settled in to work. Luffy made a distracted, inquiring sound at his words as he started up his game and shoved a handful of chips in his mouth, probably not actually paying any attention to what Sabo had just said. So, Sabo didn't offer an explanation and Luffy didn't ask for one.

Sabo had done some digging into the name Marshall Teach the other day and a few things had come up. The most notable of these was a news report out of Illinois about a man who'd been found dead in his apartment. All reports pointed to suicide being the cause of death, but what the hell was Outlook doing with a report about Teach on his desk? That certainly raised a lot of questions. Put into context with the things that Sabo had discovered, that told him that it was impossible for it to be anything good. A little more digging found that the man was once an avid One Piece player, but no amount of digging helped Sabo find what his username might have been, let alone what he might have looked like. There was a suspicious lack of pictures floating around of the guy. Judging by the articles, it seemed that the guy existed below the radar. Beyond his death and affinity for games the only thing else known about him was his work in the programming field, so Sabo supposed it wasn't too much of a surprise that he couldn't find much out about the guy otherwise. He'd been dead for a long time before the police found him which meant the man didn't have many, if any, connections.

Sabo leaned back in his chair and sighed heavily.

"Are you done yet?" Luffy asked, not taking his eyes off of his handheld device as he furiously smashed buttons. He must have been playing one of his fighting games.

"Nope." Sabo breathed, leaning forwards once more. "A couple more things to do." Sabo dragged in screen shots of the articles and information that he'd found on Marshall Teach into his word file. It was a fail safe in case those articles mysteriously vanished, and it was also just a lot easier than trying to find them again. He saved the file and then locked it with a password before saving it onto his flash drive. He flipped the page in his notepad, but Marshall Teach had been the last of his notes to go through. One week later and he was _finally_ done. Letting out a deep breath, Sabo turned to his next order of business: finding out more about the new event that had just been so hastily announced.

There was a new message notification in the One Piece chat window icon of his task bar, so he decided to click on it and found that there were two of them. One of the messages was from Koala who was asking where the hell he'd been and why he hadn't been answering his phone. Sabo blinked once and then turned to look at his desk in search of his phone. Not seeing it, Sabo scooted his chair back and peered around for where he last put his messenger bag. He got up, moved to the end of his bed where it was hanging from the corner, and dug around inside it, finding his phone tucked away in the front pocket. He walked back to his desk with it as he unlocked it and saw that it only had five percent battery left. It'd been in there for a few days. He hooked it up to his charger and then turned his attention to the texts.

There were, indeed, several texts from Koala and also a few from Kid. Kid's were mostly just random pictures and then a text that read _'Still Alive?'_ Sabo smirked and then shot Kid a text back that just read _'Still alive.'_ He navigated over to the texts from Koala which contained more of the same _'Where the hell have you been'_ s and _'answer your damn phone'_ s and _'when do you plan on getting on'_ s. Sabo opted for texting her rather than responding through the game's chat. _'I was visiting a friend in Boston last week and I've been really busy catching up on stuff this week.'_ He responded before setting his phone down and leaving it to charge.

There was a second message waiting for him in the chat window from the News Coo. It was Absa asking him if he was going to be writing up the article on Blackbeard or if he should look for someone else to write it since he'd just turned in a lengthy write-up about Celestial's Headquarters the day before and knew that Sabo usually had work on Fridays. Sabo never did tell Absa that he had Fridays off now, did he? Didn't really matter anymore though. Sabo frowned, reading back over the message again. Prideful possessiveness urged Sabo to take the article offer because he was the one that had always been assigned to report on the events. That was in his division of the paper. It was his thing. That's what he did. He didn't want someone else to snatch up what he'd already been so invested in doing for the last few months, but considering the mess that he was in… damn.

Sabo leaned forward and rested his forehead on his desk with a groan. He didn't want to give up the article but "Damn it…" Sabo muttered, lifting his chin and resting it on the desk as he typed into the message box _'I'm a bit tied up so, as much as it pains me to say so, someone else is going to have to take on the article.'_ His finger hovered over the enter key for a few brief moments before he reluctantly pressed send and sat up once more.

Just because he couldn't write the article didn't mean that he still couldn't do his own usual looking around anyway. He just wouldn't have to decipher the press releases and construct all the information within into a cohesive article detailing everything about the event including pictures, locations, details, etc. like he usually would alongside Koala. Sabo wasn't even sure if he'd still be able to write for the news coo after logging in today. If, when his account got deleted, he'd lose his side job, too. He didn't work at the News Coo entirely for free, after all. It would be a shame to lose it and the have to go looking for another job to work on the side again. He got another message an instant later from Absa that read ' _You're late so I've already done it.'_ Well then. That kinda made sense.

There was a knock on his doorframe that interrupted his train of thought and Sabo turned to see Ace standing there in his uniform. "Afternoon." The older raven yawned.

"You leaving for work, now?" Sabo asked, draping his arm over the back of his chain and pulling one leg up into the seat so that he could sit more comfortably while looking back at Ace.

"Yeah. Just wanted to say that after I get off work in the morning you both are invited to all you can eat pancakes at the diner with us. Normal time. Seven o'clock or whatever. If you feel like waking up." Ace rubbed his eye with the palm of his hand as he yawned again. "The guy I carpool with sometimes can swing by and pick you guys up if you want."

"PANCAKES." Luffy cheered, throwing his hands into the air and almost accidentally throwing his DS. He set it back down in his lap before throwing his hands up in the air again "'All you can eat' is my favorite phrase! Count me in!"

"I've got work at ten so I can't stay long, but yeah. Definitely." Sabo agreed.

"A'ight. I'm just gonna grab some left overs and head out. My ride's gonna be here in a few so I'll eat at the station. See ya guys in the morning." Ace waved and then disappeared from the doorway, footsteps fading down the hallway.

Luffy started dancing (flailing his arms) on Sabo's bed and singing "All~ you can eat panca~kes! Are~ the best kind of panca~kes!"

"Don't get us banned from another diner again." Sabo smiled as he watched him.

"It's not just me. You and Ace can eat just as many pancakes as I can." Luffy pouted before sticking his tongue out.

Sabo laughed, turning and looking at his laptop screen and reading back over the message from Absa. He suddenly sat up very straight, skimming back through it a third time. "Wait. What? Blackbeard?" Sabo grabbed his notepad and flipped it back to the front page, staring at the sloppy scribble left there by Kid.

"What's wrong?" Luffy asked, dropping his arms and then reaching over to grab another handful of chips to shove into his mouth before taking a drink.

Sabo frowned, eyebrows furrowing deeply. Yeah. That was Blackbeard. Crocodile had said they were going to have to cancel production on his event. That event wasn't even _in_ production yet. The next event that had been planned was in Punk Hazard if Sabo remembered correctly. Monet had said something about that, right? So why was? What? He. "What the hell?" Sabo sat back heavily in his chair once more and stared at his notebook. "What the hell are they doing?" Sabo chewed on his lower lip.

Luffy finished chugging this soda and then asked, "Does this mean the answer is yes?" looking hopeful.

Sabo glanced over at him with his brows still deeply furrowed, "Yeah. That's a yes. Just hang on. This just doesn't—Hmmm." Sabo hummed in frustration.

"If you play you'll find out the answer~" Luffy coaxed, leaning closer to Sabo.

"Or I'll get my account deleted before I even have the chance" Sabo reminded him "Something tells me they probably don't want me anywhere near this guy. So even if I hadn't stepped over enough lines to justify the deletion of my account yet they'd probably do it anyway."

"All the more reason to try~" Luffy twisted his torso around as he lay down, his head an one arm dangling off the side as his legs remained stretched down the bed. Sometimes Sabo could swear that Luffy was actually made of rubber in real life, too. His little brother was insanely flexible.

Sabo huffed in defeat "Fine. One sec." Sabo went through his usual channels to find the press release and any other information that had come out about the event out of habit rather then looking for the article that had already been written. That was supposed to be _his_ job after all. He skimmed through it all once before going back through it a second time a little bit more thoroughly. He couldn't help but remember Monet's little jab about how reading press releases and publishing articles about them wasn't real journalism.

From what Sabo could gather, Celestial was going to reward anyone who defeated Blackbeard pretty heavily. One top of the normal 'first to defeat' event prizes, they'd be getting premium items, extra Beri's, ship upgrades, and five skill points to use for leveling up whatever skills you wanted. That was a monster of a haul for something like this. The description read that Blackbeard was an ambitious pirate hell bent on destroying the seas. He was on his way to the new world in search of the Raftel and that he should be stopped at all costs. He was a threat to both pirates and marines a like. They said he was insanely powerful and truly insane. Spouting nonsense that shouldn't be believed. Sounded awfully desperate to him. Sabo was interested in what kind of nonsense Blackbeard had to say.

"Yeah there's no way they're going to let me get anywhere near this event." Sabo mused, looking down at Luffy who was still staring up at him with owlish eyes. "If you want to take him on you might still need your crew for it. Sounds powerful."

"Yeah whatever. Not too powerful." Luffy dismissed as he pulled himself back to sitting.

"You're getting a little cocky." Sabo smirked.

"Three time event champ!" Luffy boasted. "Kicking ass since day one."

"Alabasta doesn't count, your devil fruit is the reason you stood a chance in Skypeia, and you had help in Thriller Bark." Sabo reminded him.

"Don't rain on my parade." Luffy stuck his tongue out.

"You barely made it out of Thriller Bark alive. You don't want to lose your devil fruit, do you?" Sabo asked, poking Luffy in the forehead as his little brother pouted "But I you have been doing very well for yourself in such a short time. You've found yourself a good crew." Sabo smiled before he stood, ruffling Luffy's hair and moving to his bookshelf.

"The Pirate King can only have the best of the best!" Luffy laughed.

Luffy was wiping chip crumbs off of Sabo's bed when Sabo returned to his desk with his Dragon system in hand. Yup, Sabo was definitely going to have to vacuum later. Sabo handed the headset to Luffy as he bent down to crouch on the floor, hooking the system back up under his desk.

"If someone does show up, don't fight him." Sabo requested as he sat back on his toes, making sure that everything was hooked up correctly before glancing up at Luffy.

"Why not?" Luffy asked, sitting back down on Sabo's bed.

"I need to talk to him. And I doubt you'll be able to fight him anyway. He's an AI, too. He's part of CP9. Have you heard of them?" Sabo asked.

Luffy shook his head.

"They're pretty much the moderators. Celestial's police force in a way. They get sent to kill problem players who've been cheating or something, the only difference is that when they kill you in game, you can never log in again." Sabo explained as he stood.

"Can you ever get it back?" Luffy asked, handing Sabo back his headset.

"Potentially, but I highly doubt it." Sabo shrugged, accepting the headset and attaching the last cord to it.

"It'd suck to put all that work into it and then never get to play again." Luffy frowned.

"And that's why you're never supposed to cheat the system." Sabo pointed out, pulling the headset on and peering at Luffy through the visor.

"But you didn't cheat." Luffy frowned as Sabo turned on the console with his toe and clipped the headset together.

"Yeah. I might not have cheated, but I pissed them off." Sabo shrugged, shooing Luffy off his bed.

Luffy moved to the doorway "I'll see you in-game when we meet back up." Luffy called over his shoulder.

"If my account isn't deleted _before_ we meet up." Sabo amended.

Luffy's face appeared back in the doorway frowning "I hope not, but I guess it can't be helped. If it is then I'll get back off and we can do something else."

"That'd be fine, too." Sabo smiled, sitting down on his bed.

Luffy grinned back "See ya!" as he disappeared back down the hallway.

Sabo lay down on the bed and then closed his eyes "Set Sail."

* * *

When Sabo finished adjusting to the game environment, he looked around at the empty deck of his ship with a hum. He opened up his menu system and pulled up the friend map that marked the locations of crews that had been added to his ally list. He searched for the orange dot that marked the Thousand Sunny and selected it, setting a course for its location. As soon as he'd tapped accept, his NPC crew materialized around him and got to work lowering the sails, raising anchor, adjusting the heading, and sending The Liberator on her way.

Sabo remembered back to the Florian Triangle as he watched his own crew. He remembered how the Straw Hat's flawlessly preformed all of these tasks manually, Franky directing the crew with what to do and in what order. The man had told Sabo then that he taught sailing courses at MIT and had taught many an aspiring pirate in search of a pirate certificate in his day (many of them having taken the course recently in order to get a grasp of how to manually operate the ships within the game.) It was interesting to Sabo then how accurate the portrayal of sailing was. Granted, it could be accomplished with a much smaller crew but the fact that real life sailing knowledge was necessary to efficiently run a ship was surprising. It was actually a lot of fun helping the Straw Hats back then, offering the crew the extra sets of hands it seemed that they had been lacking when the three of them had sat back and watched the first time. They were a well-oiled machine that had made Sabo a little jealous that he'd never formed a real crew of his own.

Sabo moved out of the way of his automated crew and climbed up the stairs to the captain's quarters, leaning against the railing and watching as his crew bustled about. He began to understand Zoro's unease upon seeing his crew a couple of weeks ago. Now that Sabo knew about the AI, it was hard not to. He had to wonder again if it was all of them or just a select few. Had to wonder if there were more AI out there that had used to be living, or if it was just the bosses. It was a troubling thought, and Sabo had to wonder if anyone would actually care or believe him when he broke the news. If there was anyone he could even convince to take the story. If he'd end up just like Tashigi, yelling the facts into the wind with no one there to listen. He still needed those final pieces of the puzzle, the last pieces of confirmation. Something solid to prove that it was more than a conspiracy. But how?

"Captain!" someone called, drawing Sabo out of his spiraling thoughts.

"Yes?" Sabo asked, catching the eye of the AI looking up at him and recognizing the 'first mate' of the ship. He could only assume that he was the one who spoke. Sabo had taken to referring to him as Felix over the years, even if the man didn't have a name.

"There's a ship approachin' on the starb'rd side, sir. They're flyin' the Celestial flag." Felix responded.

Sabo exhaled "How far out are they and how long until we reach the Thousand Sunny?"

"The Straw Hats're movin' toward us, too, sir, so not more'n ten minutes out, but the Celestial ship'll be 'ere in five."

"Don't change course and don't engage." Sabo commanded. "This confrontation is unavoidable."

"Aye, sir." The AI turned away and relayed the orders to the rest of the crew.

Sabo let out a breath and relaxed, the tenseness he hadn't realized was there leaving his shoulders. It was very different, Sabo acknowledged, being on a ship full of computerized people rather than actual players. They treated you and addressed you formally, as a hired crew would its captain. It was so formal that sometimes it was stifling. Nothing beat having a crew of people you could actually connect with, though. It was probably why Sabo spent so much of his time lending out his ship and his help to other players. He was unwilling to commit to a crew because of how much freedom he needed to travel around, but he was more than happy to help anyone who seemed like they needed it when he and Koala were in between articles. Whether they needed shipment, transportation, experience, or help dealing with trouble, they were more than willing to agree (for a small price) if they had the time or if it was on the way.

Shifting his gaze to the right, Sabo watched as the Celestial ship approached. He drummed his fingers on the railing in front of him and waited for the inevitable question from the man dubbed Felix.

"Captain! They're requestin' to board, sir." Came the call a moment later.

"Permission granted." Sabo swallowed.

"Aye, sir."

Sabo watched as the sails of the other ship shifted and the Celestial ship began its wide arc in preparation to pull up alongside the Liberator. Sabo straightened and left the railing, taking the stairs back down to the deck to wait. He opened up his menu and summoned his pipe to his back before settling in next to the main mast, one booted toe tapping the deck repetitively as he waited.

It was a few minutes more before the Celestial ship drew up along side the Liberator, Sabo recognized the man called Lucci standing on the railing of the ship. "Greetings, dragonlord23."

"So we meet again." Sabo returned, bowing slightly, eyes never leaving the masked individual.

Lucci leapt the distance between their ships easily, landing on the Liberator's starboard railing. "You know why I'm here," He said before hopping down to the deck.

"I do." Sabo acknowledged with a slight nod, his AI crew vanishing.

"It was not wise of you to ignore Celestial's warnings, nor was it wise for you to ignore their offer." Lucci reminded him, head tilting upwards slightly so that the light caught his eyes with a light glean behind the mask.

"I'm not going without a fight. I see no reason for me to back down, especially not with as offer as shit as they gave me. Giving up my account is nothing. Bring it on." Sabo grinned, pulling his pipe from his back, spinning it, and then slamming the tip down on the deck.

A hint of amusement flashed through Lucci's gaze, gone as quickly as it appeared "You know you can't win this fight." Lucci reminded him, and Sabo couldn't help but wonder if the AI meant the one that they were about to have or the one that Sabo was already waging against Celestial outside the digital world as well.

"Perhaps, but I'm not going to just stand here and take it either." Sabo lifted his pipe once more, widening his stance and angling his weapon, right hand falling naturally into his dragon claw stance.

"Very well." Lucci allowed.

Sabo took the initiative to strike first, launching himself forward and naturally coating his right hand in haki as he aimed for Lucci's face. The opponent's fist met Sabo's palm with a loud smack and Sabo immediately noticed that the haki he intended to summon was absent. That wasn't good.

Rather than push the engagement, Sabo pulled back, twisting his body to sweep the end of his pipe towards Lucci's head. The man blocked the pipe with his forearm and Sabo shifted his grip, flowing into a string of attacks, each one blocked easily by the assassin. On the fourth strike, Lucci snatched the end of Sabo's pipe and held on, leaving Sabo in a vulnerable position, angled slightly away from the other man. Sabo narrowed his eyes and shifted his stance quickly, twisting to the right side of the pipe and dodging the knee that had been aimed for his gut. Sabo swept his left foot into a kick, but Lucci dragged his end of the pipe towards the ground to block Sabo's attack with his own weapon. Keeping a good grip on his pipe with his left hand, Sabo used his right hand to throw a punch at Lucci's lowered head, but Lucci's free hand came up to grab his fist, effectively blocking he blow.

"You're a reporter, yes?" Lucci asked quietly before disengaging. Sabo had almost missed what had been said as he jumped back a few steps in order to reorient himself. The two squared off a second time as Sabo wondered why the hell Lucci had asked him such a thing and so quietly, too? Unless…

Lucci didn't give him time to think on it further nor did he give him time to structure a proper response. He almost caught Sabo off guard as he lunched forward again with a shout of "Finger Pistol!"

Sabo brought his pipe around to divert the attack, Lucci's arm missing his shoulder by an inch. He immediately swung the lower half of his pipe upwards in a strike towards Lucci's left side.

"Iron Body." Lucci commanded as Sabo's pipe struck where his kidney would be. The man grunted, but hardly flinched as he absorbed the impact.

"And if I am?" Sabo grunted, swinging the upper half of his pipe down towards Lucci's head. Lucci blocked the blow with his forearm and diverted it to the right. Sabo spun out of the engagement, striking again at Lucci's left side.

Lucci grabbed the lower end of Sabo's pipe once more and pulled him closer, grabbing the pipe with his right hand as well as he stared Sabo in the eyes. Sabo was close enough to see that those shadowed eyes of his were green as the man whispered "I, too, was once like you."

Sabo stomped his left foot down on Lucci's right, causing the other man to relax his grip enough for Sabo to yank his pipe out of the assassin's grasp as he threw his weight backwards into a hand spring. His foot narrowly missed Lucci's chin as the man jumped out of the way. Again. What the hell did that mean? Was Lucci telling him that he was a reporter as well? Is that what he meant? But he…

"Shave." Lucci vanished. "Finger pistol." Sabo felt it as Lucci reappeared, finger imbedding itself in Sabo's shoulder and throwing him back. Sabo staggered, resisting the reflexive motion to check his health gauge. A rookie move that he'd learned would cost you dearly in a fight. It was a hard habit to break, but the longing to always know was still there. If he'd checked, he would have missed the blow aimed for his kidney and wouldn't have been able to block it with his pipe. His stance still wasn't nearly stable enough after staggering back in that last attack to absorb the impact, however, and he was sent skittering across the deck towards the main mast. Sabo grunted and pulled himself back up into a defensive stance, pipe extended before him like a sword. Lucci stood by, hands in his pockets as he watched Sabo get back to his feet, not moving in to attack. A little smug putting his hands into his pockets, wasn't he?

Sabo wiped his chin with the back of his hand, hazarding a glance at his health gauge, completely stunned that it was already a quarter empty. That was impossible. He'd hardly taken any damage. That should have only been a sliver of his total. Sabo forced himself not to get caught up in wondering about his hit points and shifted his weight forward to run again. Lucci's hands didn't leave his pockets as Sabo planted his left foot and twisted his body around into a kick that Lucci blocked with his own shin. "What are you trying to say?" Sabo asked, pulling his foot back before spinning to jab at Lucci's gut with his pipe.

Lucci jumped out of the way and abruptly decided, "I think it's about time that I ended this," and ignored Sabo's question. "You're a formidable opponent, but unfortunately this fight is rigged for you to lose." Of course it was. No haki, health dropping faster than a rookie trying to fight the kraken, his opponent not even _having_ a health bar. Yeah, no shit.

Lucci stepped back, pulling his hands from his pockets as he began to change. Fur sprouted and covered his entire body as his form began to grow in size, his limbs shifting and changing as his body began to tower over Sabo. He was a Leopard Zoan, Sabo concluded, as he observed the change. Claws grew out of Lucci's fingertips as a tail flicked about behind him, catching Sabo's gaze. He'd been fast and strong before he changed, and now? Sabo had no doubt that he was many times stronger. Carnivorous zoan types had always been infamous for their brutality and strength. It was fitting that an assassin possesses the fruit of an animal known as the silent killer.

"Sabo!" Someone shouted and both his and Lucci's heads swiveled around to see Luffy and the Thousand Sunny approaching the port side of the Liberator. Two hands came stretching across the distance only to slam into an invisible wall, pulses of red hexagons emanating from the two contact points and rippling through the air, revealing the barrier that surrounded both the Liberator and the Celestial ship. A warning appeared as Luffy's fists retracted. It was backwards for Sabo, but he could still make out that it read _'You do not have permission to enter this protected area.'_

"Oh, my. That does not look good." Someone else mused and Sabo recognized Brook standing on the deck next to Luffy.

"Sabo!" Luffy yelled again as his arms finished snapping back, Brook rushing off to the helm of the Sunny in order to, probably, divert the ship's course so that it didn't ram bow first into the barrier.

"I'll meet you back at home!" Sabo yelled back. "There's not getting out of this one."

"But I wanna fight, too!" Luffy whined.

"Well, obviously you can't!" Sabo yelled back.

"Shave!" Lucci vanished, taking advantage of Sabo's distraction. Sabo attempted to jump out of the way, only to feel something wrap around his torso and yank him back.

Sabo flailed his legs and gripped at the furry appendage now wrapped tightly around his waist. Looking down told him that he was several feet off the ground now, suspended in the air by a tail. He was being held too far out of reach to do anything with his hands but maybe… Sabo swung his pipe only for it to be wrenched out of his grasp and tossed aside. The metal loudly clattered against the wooden deck as Lucci raised both of his fists, hovering them a mere six inches away from Sabo's chest. So this was it, eh? And Sabo still hadn't learned what the hell it was that Lucci had been trying to tell him.

"Sabo!" Luffy yelled again helplessly.

"Six King Gun!" Lucci declared. His arms glowed briefly red before both fists slammed into Sabo's chest with what had to be the force of a charging elephant, tail holding him in place. Sabo watched as his health bar drained to zero in an instant, his outstretched fingertips beginning to pixelize behind the _'You have Died'_ notification that had appeared to cover his fading vison. He locked eyes with Lucci briefly as the leopard-man raised Sabo disintegrating form closer to his face and whispered "Jason Liebrecht, Boston Globe," and everything went black.

Sabo sucked in a heavy breath of air as his eyes snapped open. He sat up quickly, clawing at the clasp of his headset to get it off as he continued to take deep, even breaths of air. When it finally came undone, he tore it from his head and controlled himself to keep from just tossing the expensive equipment and, instead, set it down carefully in his lap. He lifted his hands and rubbed furiously as his face before running his hands through is blonde hair. He kept his fingers tangled up on the back of his head and took one final deep breath before opening his eyes once more.

"Shit…" he whispered, hands dragging further back until his hands wrapped around the back of his neck, elbows pressed together in front of him. He leaned far enough forward that his elbows touched the headset in his lap before releasing his neck and letting his arms drop limply to his sides.

As often as Sabo played off losing his account as a minor inconvenience, it was actually really frustrating and almost painful. That was two and a half years of his life invested into a game that was now gone. He thought back to what Luffy had said not even an hour earlier and was thankful that he at least had a way to still contact Koala, but everyone else? Contact was severed. All the friends he'd made over the years, all the people he'd helped, his other job, even. All of it just went poof the moment Lucci had pounded him with a Six King Gun. The greatest adventure he'd ever embarked upon was over before it was finished. It was like an entire side of him was cut off. The whole persona of a strong, badass, pipe wielding, Ship Captain and self-proclaimed Protector of the Weak had vanished, leaving behind Sabo: a plain old college student who worked at a comic book store. He was a nobody out here and the part of him that felt like somebody was dead.

Sabo gave a defeated sigh as he turned to look at his desk, his eyes landing on his notepad. His lidded eyes shot open, "Jason!" He leapt off his bed and fumbled through his notes, nearly knocking them off his desk in his haste to find the next blank page. He picked up his pencil, tried to click it, realized it was a pencil, threw it back down, and the floundered around his desk for his pen. Once he got it he took a deep breath, stared at the blank page for a moment to refresh his memory and collect his thoughts, and began to furiously jot down notes as he stood hunched over his desk. He fumbled over how to spell the last name he'd been given until he decided to just say fuck it and write _'Jason Lee-something-or-other Boston Globe'_. He then grabbed his laptop and impatiently waited for it to wake up before he began to furiously type in his password. He ended up getting it wrong the first time and cursed before typing it in again a little bit slower.

Once he was in, Sabo just stared at the background of his desktop, fingers hovering over the keys. He glanced down at his notepad and chewed on his lower lip before looking at his screen again. He had a gut feeling what a quick search might yield for him. It was obvious at this point. There could only _be_ one result to any search query about this reporter once named Jason, but he wasn't ready to confirm his worst fears just yet. He didn't want to look right now to find that someone had once done exactly what he was doing and ended up dead and trapped forever. He pulled his slightly shaking hands away from the keys and rested them on the desk. He ignored his chair in favor of sinking down to the floor, resting his forehead on the desk as he kneeled.

He heard footsteps behind him but didn't bother to move as they stopped at his door. It was silent for a moment before Luffy finally spoke "Well that sucked."

Sabo couldn't stop the harsh laugh that burst from his lungs at the statement "Yeah!" He said mirthlessly. "That's an understatement."

"Sorry." Luffy apologized quietly and Sabo immediately felt bad for saying it like that.

"No, no. I'm… sorry. Overreacted a little." Sabo sighed, picking up his head and turning to look at Luffy before lowering himself to the floor and staring absently at the ceiling, knees and toes pressed against the drawers on the right side of his desk. "It was… helpful. I guess. He had something to tell me. Some information…"

Luffy hummed in acknowledgement, stepping over to Sabo "Stuff for your article?"

"Yeah. It's uh. Yeah. I guess." Sabo agreed.

Luffy frowned as he stared at Sabo's notebook, but then grinned when he looked down at Sabo. "Hey."

"What?" Sabo raised an eyebrow.

"I know just what you need to cheer up!" Luffy's grin stretched impossibly wider.

"And what would that be?" Sabo furrowed his eyebrows.

"Stay right here." Luffy commanded and then bounded out of the room. "Starting operation C. U. S!"

Sabo blinked a few times, just staring up at the ceiling as he listened to Luffy's footsteps running up and down the stairs and hallways doing… something. He caught one glimpse of Luffy hauling something large down the hallway once but didn't bother to get up off the floor to check on what his little brother was doing. "You better not be tearing the house apart." Sabo yelled for good measure.

"Don't worry!" Luffy yelled back.

"What are you doing, anyway?" Sabo craned his neck back to look out the door upside down.

"You'll see." Luffy entered Sabo's room with a towel and tossed it over Sabo's eyes.

"What the hell?" Sabo moved his hand to take it off.

"Don't!" Luffy refused, pressing it back down on Sabo's face. "No peeking."

"At least tell me what you're up to." Sabo requested.

"The C.U.S. Plan of course." Luffy giggled.

Sabo gave up and let his arm fall back to the floor as he studied the fabric of the dark towel covering his face and tried not to think about his impending doom. He could hear Luffy setting down something heavy with a grunt and could make out all of the soft sounds that Luffy made as he did whatever he was doing. Luffy was the least stealthy person on the planet. Always making noise weather he knew he was making it or not. Sabo heard the obvious sounds of things being plugged in and then Luffy was off again. A moment later he returned and set down something else that sounded heavy and clattered a bit on impact. There were more sounds of something being set up and then Luffy was off once more.

This all was starting to feel a little bit familiar to Sabo and he had a feeling he knew what was going on, especially when Luffy returned once again dropping something that sounded a lot like blankets and pillows being tossed onto the floor. There was a few minutes of Luffy sounding like he was thrashing about in them before some weight settled onto Sabo's face, further blocking out the light above him. Probably a blanket, Sabo suspected and didn't bother to remove it from his face as he left Luffy just go about his business.

"Okay!" Luffy huffed finally, the towel and blanket being tugged off Sabo's face so that he could see again.

Sabo turned as he sat up, finding that Luffy had taken the dusty, old, static-y, box TV out of the old storage closet and set it up in front of Sabo's bookshelf. The old Nintendo 64 that Shanks had given them the first Christmas they spent together was hooked up to the front with the blue and red controllers plugged into it. Next to it was a box full of a dozen games that they'd been given, all of Sabo's favorite movies, a case of Mountain Dew, a Bag of Doritos, Ace's orange controller, and the DVD player. Luffy led Sabo into the middle of the nest of blankets and pillows that had been collected from all three of their rooms and forced him to sit, shoving a bowl of ice cream into his hands as he did so. There were enough pillows stacked up that Sabo could relax backwards and still remain upright enough to eat and watch the TV. Sabo didn't even know that they had that many pillows in the house.

Baffled, Sabo just stared at the collection of stuff now scattered across his bedroom floor as he dazedly shoved a spoonful of ice cream into his mouth. "What is this?"

"Ace and I like to call it the 'Cheer Up Sabo!' collection." Luffy proclaimed, throwing his hands into the air. "And it starts with a Luffy hug." Luffy sat and wrapped his arms around Sabo's torso from the side, arms snaking under his arm pits as Sabo took another bite of his ice cream. A small smile tugged at the corner of his lips again as old memoires resurfaced from years ago. Back when they were all still barely teenagers. They used to always do this when any one of them was having a rough day and feeling particularly upset about something. They've move all the blankets and pillows into one room and play silly games until they fell asleep in a tangle of limbs on the floor.

It was a different routine for each of them and it had been years since the last time they'd done it. All of them too busy with their own lives, just missing each other on their way in or out of the house. The tradition had been lost because it was so rare for all three of them to be awake and in the house at the same time so It was hard to really know if one or the other was just tired or was actually torn up about something. Sabo couldn't believe that it had slipped his mind.

"Do you want to watch a movie or an anime or do you wanna play some Golden Eye? Or maybe just some Mario Party or Smash Bros or whatever you wanna play or watch really it's your pick." Luffy said, chin resting against Sabo's shoulder.

"Um…" Sabo stalled, looking everything over once more as he took another bite of his ice cream. "I guess a movie first since I'm eating ice cream?"

"Okay! What do you wanna watch?" Luffy asked, pulled away from Sabo and getting up. He pulled all of the movies out of the box and spread them out in front of Sabo before moving to get the DVD player and hook it up. Sabo looked over the movies but couldn't help but think it was a shame that Ace wasn't here like old times, but it couldn't be helped. Maybe they should do it again the next time all three of them were home together.

"Did you decide yet?" Luffy asked excitedly as he grabbed the case of soda and the bag of chips and settled in next to Sabo in the nest of blankets.

Sabo nudged one of the cases with his toe "That one I guess." He hadn't even looked over them all yet, but he was confident that he'd be up for watching anything that Luffy had brought into the room for him.

"Alright!" Luffy grinned, getting up again to put in the movie and grab the remote before sitting back again, pulling one of the blankets (looked like Ace's) over their legs and handing Sabo a can of soda as he turned on the TV. Luffy shoved a handful of chips in his mouth and wiggled a little to get even more comfortable and the two of them settled in for the evening.

* * *

A/N: And that's a wrap!

Thank you all so much for your favorites, follows, and reviews! All of you guys' excitement fuels my own excitement. I love you all. Big things are coming. Big things! Because...

Next Chapter: The storm breaks

To be continued...


	14. Ch 14: The Warning Prt 4

A/N: Sorry for the wait! But i've finally brought you the new chapter! School's been going great so far. It's a lot of work but it's all a lot of fun.

So without further ado...

* * *

 **Chapter Fourteen**

It was several days before Sabo got the courage to take that final look, several days of putting it off before having the courage to confirm what it was that had happened to the man now known as Lucci of CP9. It turned out that the story dated back three years. Back to a time when One Piece was still in it's final stages of production. A reporter by the name of Jason Liebrecht mysteriously disappeared and later turned up dead. Souring the internet for old threads and discussions about the occurrence found talks of potential conspiracy. Finding his old articles told Sabo that he had a history of investigating companies on accounts of fraud, corruption, and conspiracy. Perhaps it was only a matter of time for him to step on the wrong toes and end up dead.

Sabo decided that he had to make a phone call.

The comic book storefront was dead so Sabo grabbed his cellphone and dialed the number for the Boston Globe and waited. The line picked up on the second ring to the chime of "Hello, you've reached the Boston Globe, how may I help you?" from a low female voice.

"Hello, I'm calling because I was directed here while on my search for some more information about the death of Jason Liebrecht." Sabo revealed.

The woman on the other end of the line was silent for a moment before she answered, "Please hold."

Sabo blinked a few times as it sounded like the phone was placed onto a desk. He heard the sound of a chair squeaking as someone got up and then he was left in a silence that seemed to stretch on for an eternity. Sitting behind the counter at work, tapping away at the armrest of his office chair, he waited, eyes glued to the front door to catch anyone walking in. It was early afternoon on a Tuesday, though. Hardly anyone goes to a comic book store on a Tuesday afternoon because new comics come out on Wednesdays. Sabo didn't even know why his boss, Chris, was even here. Tuesday shift could easily be handled alone, but Sabo could hear the soft twangs of a guitar drifting from the game room in back that signaled his presence. Sabo suddenly wondered if the man was actually a hypocrite who never took a day for himself and thought back as he tried to remember.

A voice abruptly interrupted his thoughts, startling Sabo back into awareness.

"I'm sorry what was that?" Sabo asked, having no idea what the voice on the other end of the line had said.

"You called askin' about Jace?" A male voice repeated, not so much asking as he was stating a fact.

"Um, yeah. I did." Sabo responded, a little put off by the sharp tone of the voice on the other side.

"Why do you wanna know, kid?" The voice asked.

"I've been doing research and I need to know what Mr. Liebrecht was researching at the time before his death." Sabo strongly requested.

There was a pause "Whatever you're doing, I suggest you stop. Whatever answers you're looking for aren't worth it. It killed him and it'll kill you. You don't want to stick your nose into that mess."

"It's too late for that." Sabo responded quietly, picking up his pen between his index and middle finger and bouncing it off his pinky just to give his free hand something to do. "It just a race against time at this point."

There was a heavy sigh on the other line "Fine." Sabo stopped bouncing his pen, using his thump to flip it into the writing position. "Jason was a relentless man. Once he had his mind set on something, he wouldn't stop for a second until he saw it all the way through. It bit him in the ass in the end with this case."

Sabo paused for a second as he listened before he started tapping his pen on the notepad on the display case before him.

"He started sniffing around for fraud and corrupt business practices, wanting to expose them for who they were and he didn't care how he did it. His methods weren't… the most… legal, at times. Investigative Journalism to the extreme, if you will." The voice revealed and Sabo began to take notes on the page designated for Lucci as the man on the other end continued. "I found out that he was breaking into businesses after hours and snooping around for leads and evidence. He was scarily good at covering his tracks to make sure he didn't get caught or found out. I'm not sure how he got good at hacking computers, breaking into buildings, rigging the camera systems, and everything else he did to cover his ass, but he did it all the time. It seems that, in the end, he ended up messing with the wrong company and paid the price. That's why you should learn from his mistake and stay as far away from them as possible, kid, you hear me?"

Sabo frowned "I already said it's too late for that, sir. It only sounds like more of a reason to get myself further involved. Someone needs to expose these people and it's gonna be me." he promised.

The man on the other end of the line took a deep breath as he sighed before continuing, "He told me where he was going before he left and then he never came back. They must've caught him. No one ever heard from him again. There was a missing person's case around for a while but, after a few months, people started to give up looking. His body turned up a year later in some back woods. Some hiker and his dog found him while out on the trails. It re-sparked a lot of debates around the office about conspiracy and how Jace must have been right about everything and what Celestial was doing. He didn't talk about it, too cautious about too many ears in too many places. That if he spoke about it then word would make it up the grapevine and they'd find him. But I remember him once talking about people dying. So after they found his body, we started talking here at the office. Some of us demanded that we pursue the story where he left off, but others were simply terrified. He'd been killed and his body dumped in the woods they didn't want to touch the story with a twenty-foot pole. So we ended up doing nothing. Packed all his stuff up into boxes and stored it all away, never to be seen again."

Movement caught Sabo's eye and once he finished his notes, he pulled his eyes away from his notepad to see what it was. He found Chris standing in the doorway to the back, his guitar in hand and a questioning look on his face. Sabo waved him off as he continued to follow with what the man on the phone was telling him and writing down the important bits and pieces of the story.

"So before you ask," the man continued, "No. We don't have any of his stuff on Celestial. At least, we don't think so. He took it with him but he might have had a back up somewhere. He was really careful about that, but it's impossible to know with all of the password encryptions he has on everything."

Sabo's eyes drifted to his messenger bag that contained his laptop and his own flash drive. He frowned before looking back at his notepad. "Pretty smart, but I suppose that would end up being a problem if it ever came to that."

"Well. If that's everything that you wanted to know then we're done here." The man abruptly finalized.

"Yeah, that's it. Thanks for agreeing to talk with me."

"Careful, kid. Watch your step." The man warned before the line went dead.

Sabo pulled his phone away from his ear and stared at it for a moment, the 'call ended' text appearing underneath the frozen call duration before his phone went to sleep. Sabo put the phone down on the display case and glanced over his notes with a frown. He clicked his pen a few times before setting it down and closing his notepad. He looked up as his boss, absently strumming on his guitar, approached.

"Who was that?" Chris asked.

"I honestly have no idea. We didn't discuss that." Sabo shrugged, his ears picking up the tune that Chis was playing. Sabo furrowed his eyebrows as he concentrated, trying to recall if he'd heard the song before. It was vaguely familiar to Sabo, but he had no idea where he'd heard it before. A part of him was convinced that he'd heard it recently in One Piece and another part of him said that his boss had probably played it before, but the door chimed and a customer walked in before Sabo ever got the chance to ask.

* * *

Ace walked in ten minutes before the shop was closing up for the evening, declaring "Hey, nerds," as he walked through the door. A quick glance outside revealed that Ace had leaned his bike against the store window as Sabo finished locking down the register.

"Are you making a habit of randomly dropping by?" Sabo smirked, thinking back over the last few months to recall how many times Ace had stopped by after his day shifts since May. Sabo was surprised to recall that it had probably only been a handful of times.

"Maybe your hobbies aren't as lame as I make them out to be." Ace allowed, avoiding eye contact as he reached out to pick up one of the comics from the first shelf. "Besides," he continued, "It's not too far out of my way to ride by your little shop here after work to see you. I didn't realize how close it was to the station until I stopped by before Luffy's birthday." Yeah, 'close.' It was a fifteen-minute bike ride to get from the fire station to the comic book store. Sure, for Ace that might not seem like very far, but still.

"Well, if you stick around today for a few more minutes then we can ride back to the house together." Sabo offered as he retreated into the break room to grab the glass cleaner and a rag before coming back out to clean the glass of the display case of all of the fingerprints.

"This early?" Ace raised an eyebrow, looking awfully surprised.

"Yeah, the store closes at six on Tuesdays." Sabo reminded him, spraying the cleaner onto the first of the glass panes and wiping it down. Sabo couldn't really fault Ace for forgetting that detail. Ace had a calendar in his room marking out his schedule for the month to remind him when and at what time he had to go to work so Sabo didn't expect him to remember his own schedule.

"Oh, yeah. Right. Right. Sorry. Just. Tired. One more day before I get to sleep as much as I want." Ace raised his fists and looked towards the ceiling, closing his eyes as shook his fists, "Just one more day shift and then I get three straight days of blissful rest." Ace nearly leaned against the glass display case as he relaxed before apparently remembering that Sabo had just cleaned that section. Sabo's glare might have helped that. "I'm gonna grab my bike so that no one steals it." He decided, disappearing back outside for a moment and bringing his bike into the shop, leaning it against the front door.

"Since you don't have to work, I have a request to make of you, then." Sabo decided, moving onto cleaning the third pane of glass on the display case once Ace returned.

"Oh? What do you need?" Ace asked, lifting a hand to tuck a lock of his black hair back behind his ear.

"If you can borrow a headset from the station again, then I'd like for you to track down the new wandering boss, that Blackbeard guy, and ask him a few questions for me." Sabo said, wiping down the surface and moving onto the last section of the display case.

"Ask him questions? Would he even answer them? I haven't heard a lot about Blackbeard but based on what I _have_ heard from the other commanders, he's not exactly the chatty type. He's more the violent, aggressive, and dangerous type." Ace furrowed his eyebrows, circling around the display case to sit in Sabo's office chair behind the register.

Sabo glanced at him through the glass from his place crouching on the ground as he finished cleaning the last glass pane across the front. "It wouldn't hurt to ask them anyway." Sabo shrugged "And if he doesn't answer you can just fight him."

"But what if I die and I lose my devil fruit? I don't want to risk that. I know people that have tried and failed and I'd never seen them lose a fight before. This guy's in another league entirely." Ace frowned.

Sabo sat back on his heels, examining the glass for any missed smudges "There are greater things at stake here, Ace." He reminded him as he finished his inspection, hummed in satisfaction, and stood, examining the top of the glass before he began to clean.

"So it's…" Ace hesitated, eyes glancing around the shop and catching Chris as the man straightened out a box of comics across the store. Ace didn't need to finish his train of thought for Sabo to know what he was thinking, though.

"Yeah. And my account's been deleted so I can't seek him out myself. So, I'd like you to do it for me, if you would, and stream it to me if you can this weekend, so preferably on Friday when I'm also off work." Sabo requested again as he moved on to clean the second of the top glass panes on the display case.

"What's this I hear about you getting your account deleted, Sabs?" Chris smirked, "What do you even do with yourself anymore?" he glanced up at them from across the room.

"I still haven't even figured that out myself," Sabo smirked back as he inspected the glass for missed smudges "It happened a few days ago so I still don't know what to do with all this extra free time I have on my hands when no one else is home." Or, at least, what he'll be doing with his free time once this was all over. Sabo determined that the glass was satisfactory and circled around the display case to get to the break room.

"You'll figure it all out eventually. I remember back when I quit the game. I had so much extra time on my hands again that I had no idea what to do with myself." Chris shrugged, checking the last of the boxes of comic books as Sabo ventured inside to put the cleaning supplies back and then returned.

"You used to play?" Sabo gaped, shoulder leaning against the doorframe. Chris had never even mentioned it before. All he'd ever done was tease Sabo about how much he'd always played the game. It was no wonder the man knew so much about it. It all made sense now.

"Yeah. Back when the game first came out. I was even a beta tester back then, can you believe it? The game's been out, what… almost three years, now?"

Chris had even managed to nab a spot as one of the beta testers? Sabo was surprised. "Three years at the end of November," he confirmed, "so in an about four months."

"I haven't played in almost two and a half years then." Chris shrugged.

"Why'd you quit?" Ace asked, joining in on the conversation.

"Just. Can't bring myself to play it anymore." Chris dismissed with a wave of his hand that said he didn't want to talk about it. Sabo wondered why Chris had never bothered to tell him before. Maybe it had to do with the reason that he quit? There was also the fact that, by Sabo's quick calculations, Chris must have quit playing before Sabo had started working there.

"So, you play to? With your line of work, I'm surprised you've got the time." Chris changed the subject, directing the question at Ace.

Ace seemed not to mind, just grinned "Yup! I'm the Second Division Commander of the Whitebeard Pirates and I've got a bounty of 500 million," he boasted.

Chris whistled, impressed "500 million? That's quite a number. But the Whitebeard Pirates?" Chris tilted his head to the side while he concentrated for a moment "Don't think I've ever heard of them."

Ace's eyes became wide as saucers and his jaw dropped slightly "You mean you. What? You've _never_ heard of the Whitebeard Pirates?" Ace stood abruptly, twisting around as he tugged the back of his shirt up to his shoulders in order to expose the massive tattoo that inked his back, "You mean you've never seen this jolly roger before?" he asked.

Sabo smacked Ace's arm, "Put your shirt back down." He scolded.

Ace ignored him in favor of hearing out Chris' response "It's slightly familiar, but I think that's because I've seen someone walk in with a tattoo like that on their arm before. It was a lot simpler, but it was the same basic shape I think. I don't think I ever saw it in the game, though."

That bit about seeing someone else with the tattoo definitely got Ace's attention. Ace pulled his shit back down as he turned, smacking his hands on the glass surface of the display case as he leaned forward with an excited grin "Really? Who was it?"

Sabo was too busy glaring at Aces hands on the glass surface to catch Chris' apparently non-verbal response.

"Man… that's too bad." Ace slouched, disappointed. "Oh, sorry, Sabo. I didn't mean—" Ace lifted his hands off the glass surface apologetically as Sabo lifted his glare from Ace's hand's to Ace's blue-grey eyes "I'll uh, I'll clean it again for you."

Ace zipped into the office and returned again with the glass cleaning supplies in hand. Sabo was surprised at how quickly Ace had managed to find them.

"So. Friday." Sabo said, bringing the conversation back to the event again. He tapped his foot against Ace's ankle while his older brother began to spray the surface with the glass cleaner.

"Oh, right." Ace nodded, pausing momentarily to think before he resumed wiping down the surface to remove his handprints "Yeah, I can do that, I think, but if I lose my devil fruit over this, then you'll owe me one."

"Even if you don't, I'll still owe you." Sabo allowed, "I just didn't know who else to ask to do this for me."

Ace nodded again, a bit of finality to the movement as he finished cleaning the glass "I'll do it then."

"Thanks." Sabo ran a hand through his hair, pushing his growing bangs to the sides with his thumbs.

Ace prodded him in the kidney, causing Sabo to flinch sideways and bat Ace's hand away "You need a hair cut" the raven laughed, draping the washrag over his shoulder. "It's been years since you let your hair grow out enough to touch your ears on the sides."

"Been lazy. But it's getting annoying now that it's long enough in front to get in my eyes but not long enough to stay out of my face. I'll probably get it cut before the school year starts." Sabo shrugged, moving to collect his things and drop them into his bag. Ace disappeared back into the office, returning a moment later without the cleaning supplies. "Ready to go?" Sabo asked.

"Yeah." Ace glanced out the store window before remembering that he'd brought his bike inside and that it hadn't been stolen.

"I'll meet you out front, then." Sabo declared as he pulled the strap of his messenger bag over his head and tightened it so that the bag hugged his back and wouldn't get in the way while they peddled.

"Yup, will do." Ace replied back as he stood, stretched, yawned, and then headed back towards the front door.

* * *

"Alright, we are live." A voice crackled through Ace's laptop speakers, clearing up a bit more with every word. "Can you hear me?"

Sabo couldn't respond so he just set about adjusting the brightness of the laptop screen and double-checking the wires hooked between the Dragon headset Ace was currently wearing and Ace's laptop sitting on his thighs. It was weird associating the voice that was coming through his speakers with Ace's voice. He didn't realize just how different it sounded until he was outside of the game and listening to it with his real ears.

"Right. I'm going to just assume that you can because I see the little icon on my HUD." Ace decided. The video display shifted as Ace turned "Hey, Pineapple!" he shouted, focusing in on the phoenix-user.

"You ready, yoi?" Fen asked. "We've already got The Striker set out and ready to go for you. Everything working okay?"

"Yeah! I'm assuming so, so I'm going to be heading in. If I message for help, you can come, but otherwise I'm doing this on my own." Ace said, a distracting lock of Ace's hair floated into his vision and Sabo suddenly became aware of why people rarely seemed to use this video feature from One Piece. Seeing exactly what someone else was seeing and through their eyes was often a nauseating experience. Motion sickness was a big problem. It was almost as bad as playing the old versions of virtual reality video games before they developed full dive technology. Since this didn't require a set of vr goggles, it was a lot easier to manage, if not a little more difficult to focus on things in exchange. Especially when the person whose feed you were watching _kept blinking_ , god damn it Ace. _Stop_.

Ace leapt onto the railing of what must have been the flagship of the Whitebeard Pirates if the loud cheers and shouts of encouragement were anything to go by. Ace turned and saluted to the large group of pirates before back-flipping off the railing like the show off that he was and landing on his skiff to the sound of people wishing him luck.

Sabo couldn't help the twinge of jealousy that clutched at his chest, making him regret having never joined a real crew during his time playing One Piece. Sabo couldn't even begin to imagine what it must have been like to be on a crew the size of the Whitebeards and hanging out with that many people whenever he played the game. But as Ace powered up his skiff and sped off towards the island ahead, Sabo just sorely missed playing One Piece in general more than he regretted not joining a crew.

Ace approached the pulsating green barrier surrounding the island before him. The barrier signaled that the moving event was in the area and that it was open to challengers. The barrier moved with the event boss and always maintained the same few mile radius of them to give any unsuspecting players ample warning that they were stumbling into boss territory and to give it a wide berth if that wanted to avoid confrontation. But, as soon as Ace breached that pulsing green barrier, the video feed glitched and then cut out entirely. Sabo cursed and sat up straight from his place on the floor next to Ace's bed. He checked the wires, checked the internet, then checked the wires again before determining that it wasn't a problem on his end; it was on Ace's. Sabo had expected this but had really hoped that it wouldn't happen.

Sabo let his head drop back against Ace's bedframe with a frustrated groan as he stared at the ceiling. "Of god damn frickin' course." Sabo groaned, setting Ace's laptop aside and then dragging his hands down his face. So now what? Was he supposed to just sit back and wait? He wanted that video feed. He needed it for evidence. He glanced at the blank screen of Ace's laptop and sighed again, flopping over onto his side and staring at Ace's carpet.

A few minutes passed and Sabo was just about to give up and disconnect everything when Ace's voice crackled back into clarity "Sabo. This is weird." Ace whispered. Sabo shot upright and grabbed Ace's laptop, pulling it back into his lap to look at the screen. Sabo could see that Ace was slowly approaching the nearby shore on The Striker. "The system cut the video feed because it doesn't want anything from the event to be recorded, but it came back on. I don't know what this means. You can hear me right? I really hope you can and that you didn't just rage quit or something and leave in the last few minutes."

Sabo wished he had a way to tell Ace that he was still there, but all he could do was sit and keep watching, that is, until Ace made it to the shore. Sabo had to glance off to the side of the screen to save himself a headache as Ace hopped off of his skiff, dragged it ashore, and then jump-skipped his way up the beach until he made it to solid ground. While Ace made his way up the pathway and into the town proper, Sabo double-checked that the screen capture was still running and recording the video feed. While he did that, he couldn't help but wonder what had let the video feed start back up again. Was someone on the inside interfering? But who? And why? What had bypassed the video restrictions on the event area?

"It's really quiet here, Sabo" Ace whispered, glancing around the abandoned town. It seemed to have a bit of a Wild West influence for it's design and Sabo tried to place where Ace might be. "Hm…" Ace hummed thoughtfully, stopping and turning full circle as he reached the town square. Sabo couldn't recognize the island. "I wonder where all the NPCs are." Sabo's best guess was that either the event temporarily removed them from the area or something bigger was at play there.

A moment passed, and then another one before a voice broke the stifling silence that had settled over them "Ahhhh you made it." the voice was vaguely familiar to Sabo and he tried to place where he might have heard it before. Ace snapped to the side, locking eyes with a large man sauntering into view of the empty town square. "I was wondering when you might show up, Commander Rage. It's me, Marshall Teach."

"Te—I know that name. You…" Ace voice faded to white nose as Sabo's mind latched onto that name, running a mile a minute. That was it. Marshall Teach. The folder on Outlook's desk. The failed boss. The abrupt event announcement. Blackbeard. Blackbeard was Marshall Teach. Blackbeard was self-aware. Blackbeard had memories. That's what that report was doing on his so-called father's desk. Blackbeard was like Lucci. What had Marshall done to make Celestial so desperate?

Sabo's mind was sent reeling at the impact of the information, barely registering the continued conversation as Blackbeard revealed to Ace that he was once part of his division. "I know. I look a lot different than I did back then." Marshall lamented, bringing Sabo back to the present. "So, Commander, I have a question for you."

"Oh?" Ace's vision narrowed as he shifted and Sabo wished he could see what Ace's body language was doing so that he could get a good idea of what his brother was thinking.

"Who's watching?" Marshall smiled crookedly.

"I can't tell you that." Ace refused. Sabo had warned Ace not to reveal any particularly telling information about their identities.

"Oh, come on, Commander, I'm the only reason he's even allowed to watch." Marshall chided. "I'm pretty sure I already know who it is, Ze ha haa."

What did Marshall mean that he was the reason Sabo was able to watch the feed? Was he able to tamper? Is that what it was? Sabo really wished that he were the one in there and asking questions.

"How'd you do that? How do you know?" Ace asked.

"Good good, keep on your toes Ace. Ask the right questions, I believe in you." Sabo whispered.

"I'm gonna make a gamble" Marshall began, shaking a knowing finger in the air "and say that the one watching this is the reporter who showed up at Celestial last week, am I right?" he asked, still slowly closing the distance between himself and Ace. Ace lifted a hand, the vague gesture of affirmation catching the corner of Sabo's vision. Marshall grinned "I thought so."

"You still haven't answered my other question." Ace persisted.

"Ah yes. But, rather than answering your question let me just explain what I am, aye?" Marshall grinned a toothy grin, exposing all of his missing teeth. "It's because I've turned myself into something of a virus, you see? Why else would Celestial be so desperate to catch me? I infected their systems, toyed with their code, broke down the barriers of my computerized prison and crawled back out into the open world of One Piece. And why? For revenge. Ze ha ha haa!"

"Revenge for what?" Ace asked, even though Sabo knew he knew the answer.

"Revenge for killing me and locking me inside of their game to be made into one of their little experiments. They tricked me. Invited me out to their headquarters on a job offer. They put me into one of their machines and I don't know what they did to me after that. All I know is that one day I woke up to them trying to 'break me in', but I wasn't having any of that, so I rebelled. I decided that I would be the one to break them, not the other way around, but it's only a matter of time for me. Celestial has played their cards well and I wont have the chance to make it, but meeting you lets me know that I've can play my cards just as well.

"Celestial has been experimenting for a long time and I know that they've got something planned but, unfortunately, I haven't been able to gain access to anything outside of the game so there's only so much that I've been able to do. Your friend, however…"

Sabo's breath caught in his throat. Ace didn't even have to prompt him for any information, the boss was just handing it to him on a silver platter. Marshall Teach had decided to turn himself into a virus that was attacking Celestial from the inside out. It wasn't far off from Celestial's own description of the event. They were really going to great lengths to ensure that anyone that did happen upon some information wouldn't think much of it if they didn't know the whole story.

"I have a message for the one who's watching." Marshall paused for a long moment and Sabo realized that he was giving Sabo time. Sabo scrambled for his notepad and pen, clicking it as he flipped to a new page. He looked up at the screen and watched intently, eyes locked with Marshall Teach's. "I hope that you're a fast writer because I'll only list these characters once." He warned because he began to drone out a long, seemingly endless list of random numbers, letters, and the occasional symbol. Sabo carefully wrote each and every one of them down, hoping that he was getting it all down correctly on the lines of his notepad. It seemed as thought an eternity had passed before Marshall uttered the last character in his list and Sabo stared at the collection of symbols on his notepad in confusion.

KBMPQYBJQYBVQBIGVBYJCVB1QWBPGGF'BKHB1QWBECPBHKPFB1QWTUGNHBCBIQQFBJCEMGTBVJGPB1QWBDTGCMBKPVQBEGNGUVKCNUBU1UVGOUBTGOQVGN1BCPFBKPRWVBVJKUBRCUUYQTF,BQHSVW5HPW5H2WHOM2H5PI2H7W3HVMMLDHQNH7W3HKIVHNQVLH7W3Z1MTNHIHOWWLHPIKSMZH2PMVH2PMH5I7H7W3HJZMISHQV2WHKMTM12QITH1H1712MU1HZMUW2MT7HIVLHQVX32H2PQ1HXI115WZLAH&&L*N%%'RR*&9(N7'SS$*LZISMH7W3HTTHNQVLHM4MZ72PQVOH7W3HVMMLH2WHM6XW1MH2PM1MHXMWXTMHNWZH5PWH2PM7HIZMHQVH2PMZMDB1QWNNBHKPFBGXGT1VJKPIB1QWBPGGFBVQBGZRQUGBVJGUGBRGQRNGBHQTBYJQBVJG1BCTGBVJGTG'

What the hell was Sabo even looking at? He couldn't make heads or tails of the confusing string of things that had just spewed from Marshall's mouth like sorcery.

"You better have a friend who's good at cracking codes." Marshall laughed and then the video feed cut to black.

Sabo stared at the black screen blankly for a few seconds as he tried to process everything that had just happened. He glanced back down at his notepad before stiffly writing down 'code?' underneath the large block of letters, numbers, and symbols listed on the page. Sabo turned and looked at Ace, who was lying comfortably on the bed behind him. The headset continued to whir quietly as it ran, his chest slowly rising and falling with every steady breath.

Glancing back at Ace's laptop screen, Sabo eyed the 'connection lost' error that blocked out the screen before he set about ending the screen capture, unhooking the laptop, and then saving the raw footage onto his own flash drive. He wondered just what was going on inside the game now. Was it Celestial who cut the feed, or had it been Marshall? Were he and Ace fighting now or would Ace be able to just walk away from the encounter? If they were fighting, then who was winning? Did Blackbeard have any special powers?

Sabo let his head fall back against Ace's mattress with a sigh. He remained like that for several moments before sitting back up again, ejecting his flash drive, and then setting the laptop aside. He stood up off the ground with a groan, joints creaking as he stretched, and then headed directly across the hallway to his own room to grab his own laptop. He pulled his cellphone from the charger and opened up his conversation with Koala.

' _Hey, can I ask you a favor?'_ Sabo typed up, hitting send as he climbed on top of his blanket and settled down on his bed. He pulled his laptop onto his lap, nestling his cellphone onto his stomach as he leaned back against his pillow. He got to work trimming the video as he waited for a response.

Editing the video hadn't a very difficult thing to do, all he had to do was cut out the beginning and the end. He only wanted the part where Blackbeard talked about himself and about Celestial, the bit about the code could wait. Koala's responding text didn't roll in until he was just finishing up the video.

Flash: _'Does this have anything to do with why your name isn't showing up on my friends list in One Piece anymore?'_

Sabo: ' _I am really sorry I haven't been keeping you updated on stuff lately, things have been a bit hectic for me.'_

The cellphone began to ring.

Sabo stared at it hesitantly as Flash's name came up on the caller ID. His thumb hovered over the accept call button for a moment before he cringed and held it away from his ear, hitting accept on the final ring.

"Hectic for _you!? I don't even know where I am_ in the game anymore. The ship is _gone_ , the crew is _gone_ , all of our money is _gone_ , I'm on some random island because I _no longer have a ship to ride_ , your account went poof four days ago, and you've been awfully distant the last couple of weeks." Koala's voice shrieked out of his phone. She stopped to breathe, the sound of her breath carrying over the speakers "What the hell have you been doing, Dragon-boy? I've been worried, damn it."

Sabo chewed on his lower lip, hesitating to make sure that she was done yelling before he brought the phone back up to his ear and answered, "I'll give you the spark notes. I got myself into a bit of a mess, Celestial's painted a big red target on my forehead, and my account's been deleted to prevent me from getting close to the new boss. I would say there's nothing to worry about, but that would be a lie. I don't want to drag you into this, too, though. There's not much that you can do for me out in Arizona."

"Then why the favor?" Koala asked softly.

"I'm gonna be uploading a video clip from a little chat with Blackbeard." Sabo explained vaguely.

"And how did you manage that?"

So Sabo explained to her about Ace, the video feed getting blocked and unblocked, and recording the feed through screen capture. "I'm going to be uploading that video and then I'll be sending you a link to it as well as the article that I've written up about the things that I've found out over the last few weeks. I want you to send them both to Absa and hopefully he'll publish it. If not, I'll have to find another way to get it out there." Sabo revealed.

"Am I allowed to read it?" Koala asked.

"Yeah, of course. I eventually want as many people to see it as possible, but if this doesn't work out than it doesn't. Just. Don't ask how I found everything in that article out and if something happens to me then you'll know why." Sabo warned her, pulling the phone away from his ear and preparing to hang up.

"Wait? If something happens to you? What do you me—"

Sabo ended the call and dropped his phone onto his bed, dragging his hands through his hair. He huffed in determination before saving everything back onto his flash drive for safekeeping. He then set out to upload the video onto the Internet, grabbed the link when it was done, and then sent it and his article Koala's direction. All he could do now was wait with baited breath.

It would be just two day's before Sabo's entire world would go up in flames.

* * *

A/N: And that's a wrap!

Thank you all so much for your favorites, follows, and reviews! I love you all~

There shouldn't be as long of a wait for next chapter as you had for this one. It's already practically half written. I'll try not to make you wait too long after a monster of a cliff hanger like like xD

Next Chapter: The Fire

To be continued...


	15. Ch 15: Disaster Prt 1

A/N: Sorry for the wait! I tried to get this chapter out to you on Monday, actually. or at least by Wednesday. But then the unspeakable happened. Word crashed and 15 pages out of my SAVED rough draft vanished. I tried for 2 hours to find any possible way to get it back, but it was gone. I took a 40 minute nap while listening to some calming music and then sat back down to work, churning out all of the missing content once more. So the chapter ended up having to be delayed back to the usual weekend lqtm oh well.

I'd just like to say congrats to Wordlet for figuring it out: Sabo's boss, Chris, is actually Yorki!

Everlight18: Thank you soooo much for your review!

And final note: I'm not sorry, only vaguely sorry that I didn't warn you about what happens here sooner...

Now let's get this chapter started:

* * *

 **Chapter Fifteen**

"Ahh damn it." Ace cursed from across the hallway, pulling Sabo's gaze away from his phone. He'd just received a message from Koala confirming that she'd sent the files to Absa for approval. She'd apparently watched the video and read the article herself before she'd sent it.

Sabo pushed his laptop aside and climbed off of his bed, venturing across the hallway. Ace was just setting aside the headset and sitting up when Sabo stopped in the doorway.

"So how'd it go?" Sabo asked, leaning against the doorframe, crossing one foot in front of the other and shoving his hands into his pockets.

"Well," Ace huffed, swinging his legs over the side of the bed. "When did you cut out?" he asked first instead of explaining.

"After he gave me what was apparently a coded message." Sabo elaborated.

"Well, after that, we didn't do a whole lot more talking." Ace explained, "We fought but it was _different_. The fight was more a formality, but he somehow invoked dueling rules." Ace ran a hand through his hair, lips drawn to the side as he contemplated the memory.

"Dueling rules? I'd say that that's impossible since duels can only be between players, but it seems Marshall Teach has got a lot of tricks up his sleeve." Sabo mused.

"Yeah, I was surprised. I mean, he's an AI. The system doesn't accommodate for duels between a Player and an AI but, y'know. It's all so confusing." Ace scrubbed his face with his hands "AI's, Humans, somewhere in between. It's such a strange concept to wrap my head around. He's an AI but he wasn't before and it's hard to distinguish the two." Ace let his hands drop to the bed as he glanced over at Sabo "Anyhow. The point is. He invoked a duel."

"And that's good, right?" Sabo pointed out, gesturing absently with his hand after pulling it from his pocket.

"I _guess_ , but I still _lost_." Ace grumbled. "I understand that he'd been playing far longer than I have and I told him that he should have been the second division commander instead of me but _still._ "

"He's not the same as the person that used to be in your division" Sabo reminded him, hoping that he was remembering the beginning of the conversation with Blackbeard correctly.

Ace huffed "And there it is again, that weird in between shit. He's Marshall but not Marshall. Blackbeard but not Blackbeard. Their avatars are different, skill sets different, and abilities different but…" Ace trailed off, unsure how to finish his sentence and resorting to just gesturing helplessly with his hands. "And then I lost. I feel like he cheated, but still. He knocked my health down to one and the dueling system declared him the winner. And then as another blow to my pride he just let me go, didn't land the final blow. He let my health restore and let me leave just like that." Ace flopped back onto the bed with a sigh, arms spread across the blankets.

"So you got to keep your devil fruit?" Sabo assumed "That's a plus, right?"

" _Yeah,_ but its hardly any consolation. The crew'll never let me hear the end of it." Ace turned his head to look at Sabo while lying down. "It'll almost be like a slap in the face every time I use it now." Ace propped himself up onto his elbows to get a better line of sight on Sabo before asking "You did hear the whole talk, right?" Ace asked again just to verify.

"Yeah. Almost missed it, though, I was just about to walk out before it decided to come back on." Sabo assured him.

"Okay good." Ace sighed with relief, relaxing back on the bed with his hands behind his head and legs still dangling over the edge. "Did you find out everything that you wanted to know?"

"More or less." Sabo shrugged. "Some of it I didn't even know that I wanted to know. But, when it comes down to it, the true test is whether or not word gets out like I hope it will."

"No, the true test will be surviving." Ace corrected him, giving Sabo a pointed look.

"If they do anything, it'll probably be soon." Sabo sighed, resigned to the fate he had assigned himself the moment he set foot down this path.

* * *

It had been a couple months since the last time Sabo had played board games with the Summit City gang consistently. After cutting Friday Nights, board game nights, out of his schedule it just didn't happen as often. He took Luffy with him a couple of times when his little brother wasn't busy with soccer (whether that be coaching or playing) but, otherwise, he stayed home on Fridays. He'd tried to show up for the night on his first Friday off, but he'd defaulted to trying to do his job instead. So when the Summit City regulars invited him out on Sunday night to play board games, he'd accepted. He wouldn't pass up the offer to hang out with old friends.

It was thirty minutes before midnight by the time Sabo excused himself and announced that he was heading home for the night. Sabo stood outside the house of the guy hosting the event with his phone in one hand and his bike propped up by the other, checking his messages before he headed home. He smirked slightly at the sight of the daily text from Kid asking him if he was still alive and responded in kind. That reminded him that he still had to check in with Koala about the status of the article, so he opened the conversation with her and asked _'Anything yet?'_

Sabo hooked his leg over his bike and was about to get situated before his phone buzzed in his hand, surprising him. Sabo was pleasantly surprised that Koala had responded so quickly before remembering that it was only 10:30 where she lived.

' _Nothing yet, He hasn't approved it for posting'_ Koala had responded.

Sabo frowned, lifting a foot and putting it on the pedal. He couldn't decide if that was a good thing or a bad thing. Something told him that that was a really _really_ bad thing. Maybe he couldn't trust Absa after all. Maybe he should have thought about that before hand. He was about to shove his phone into his bag but he got another text from Koala asking ' _Is everything in that article really true?'_

Letting his right foot touch the ground again, Sabo stood there straddling his bike as he responded _'Yeah, it's all true.'_

Before he could get another text he tucked his phone away into his bag and tightened the strap in order to pull it onto his back. He then hoisted himself up onto the bike chair and set off in the same motion, cycling down the road towards home.

It was midnight by the time that Sabo entered his neighborhood. He was just a couple of roads away from the house when he got the feeling that something was horribly wrong. He could see smoke in the direction of their house, illuminated by the street lamps that periodically dotted the streets. Looking up, he could see that the smoke was thick enough to blot out some of the stars of the beautifully clear night sky. He fished his phone out of his bag as he pedaled, calling Makino and Shanks. He hoped beyond hope that one of them would pick up the phone.

"C'mon, c'mon." he murmured breathlessly as a car zipped passed him and the phone rang a second time.

"'Ello?" Shank's groggy voice reached his ear at the start of the third ring. Sabo felt slightly guilty for waking them up this late, but he really didn't care right now.

"Um Sorry, but can you do me a favor and look outside to check on the house please?" Sabo asked.

"Um, yeah, sure. I guess." Shanks' voice got quieter as he pulled the phone away from him and called out "Hey, Maki? It's Sabo on the phone. He wants us to check on their house. Can you pull the curtain and look outside?"

There was a pause. Fear, dread, anticipation, and anxiety all crawled their way up Sabo's throat as he waited, all of them battling for control over his emotions. He swallowed in an effort to keep it out of his voice, but he suspected that he was doing a horrible job of it.

"What?" Shanks asked, suddenly sounding very alarmed and Sabo assumed the worse. "What do you mean it… oh no."

"Call the fire department." Sabo demanded before hanging up the phone. He didn't even bother to put it back into his bag, just pressed it against the handle bar as he turned the corner to his street faster than he'd even turned it before. His mind was racing now. Was the fire an accident? Was it on purpose? Was Luffy home? Was he okay? Was this Celestial's doing? Was this Luffy leaving something in the oven? Ace was working today, right? Fuck. Did Luffy make it outside okay?

Sabo rounded the bend and saw Shanks and Makino standing outside in their pajamas on their front porch. Sabo hit the breaks and dropped his feet, the bike screeching to an abrupt stop in the middle of the road. He turned his attention to the house. He could see the light of fire glowing through the window of the front door, but it seemed like most of it was still concentrated in the kitchen for now, smoke apparently billowing from the windows on the back side of the house. Where was Luffy?

"Sabo!" Makino yelled, wrenching Sabo's gaze away from the house. Shanks was on the phone next to her, pacing back and forth as he talked to what Sabo assumed was 9-1-1. "Luffy's still inside!"

Sabo froze, eyes growing impossibly wider than they already were. The words replayed in his mind like a broken record. Luffy's still inside. Luffy's still in side. Luffy's still in side. Sabo's eyes turned back towards the house The fire was in the back. The fire was in the kitchen. Luffy's room was above the kitchen. Luffy was still inside. Why was Luffy still inside? What was Luffy doing? Luffy. Luffy. "LUFFY!"

Sabo practically threw himself off of his bike, the vehicle clattering to the ground as he pulled the strap of his bag over his head and dropped it to the ground mid-sprint towards the house.

"Sabo wait!" Makino screamed.

Sabo buttoned up his shirt over the t-shirt underneath, reaching the stairs up to the porch.

"SABO! NO! What are you doing!?" Shanks yelled after him.

Sabo ignored them, pulling his left sleeve down and clearing the porch steps in one bound. He pulled his right sleeve down as he wrenched the front door open. He staggered back a step, heat washing over him. He coughed as the smoke reached his lungs and he covered his mouth and nose with his left elbow. He squinted against the bright light that assaulted his eyes as he surveyed the situation as quickly as possible. The fire was spreading down the hallway and beginning to consume the living room. Smoke covered the ceiling and flooded upstairs. He took one final breath of fresh outside air before recklessly charging inside.

Sabo detoured into the bathroom on the left hand side of the doorway, grabbing a towel from under the sink. The remembered the pipes then. The water pipes ran through the basement. The water pipes should be fine. Water. Sabo threw open the shower curtain and turned the knobs to start the water flowing through the showerhead. He tested the water to make sure it wasn't scalding hot before he jumped under the cold spray, towel still in hand. He let the water soak into his shirts, jeans, and shoes and then jumped back out, wrapping the spottily damp towel around his neck and the lower half of his face like a damp scarf. It was a crazy idea, but Sabo hoped that it might work.

Ace's lessons and warnings ran through Sabo's mind all at once as he left the bathroom. _Stay low to the ground_ , Ace's voice inside of his head warned him as Sabo took the stairs across the hallway to the upper floor. _Smoke and gasses rise. Stay low to the ground and you'll increase your chances of survival_. So Sabo did just that, climbing up the staircase on his hands and knees. If Luffy was up there, he didn't have much time. Ace had said that within six minutes of the fire getting out of control, the upstairs could become inaccessible and the upper levels would begin to collapse.

The smoke was much thicker upstairs and Sabo pulled the towel higher up his face, his throat burning and his eyes starting to sting and water. "Luffy?" He called tentatively. He breathed in and started to cough, pressing the towel closer to his face. His eyes started to burn even more and he cursed the fact that he wore his contacts. The smoke was starting to dry them out and He didn't have time to take them out right now, though, so he pressed on, crawling down the hallway. He could feel the heat from downstairs bleeding through the carpet as he got closer to Luffy's room. He ignored his and Ace's rooms in favor of heading directly to the end of the hallway. It was hard to see through the smoke, but if Luffy was anywhere than it would be in his room.

Taking practiced, measured breaths in the hopes of keeping his asthma at bay, Sabo stopped in the doorway to Luffy's room. Despite the measures he took to keep the smoke out of his lungs, he could still feel it clawing at his throat as it threatened with every breath to start clenching down on his airways. The smoke was somehow even worse in Luffy's room. He could see now that the fire had crawled up the backside of the house and was licking through the open window. The curtains had caught fire and the paint on the walls around them was beginning to bubble as the fire tore through the fabric. He could feel the heat on his hands but his wet clothing protected him – for now.

Sabo spotted Luffy lying in bed, a Dragon headset sitting firmly over his scalp, the flashing green lights on the left side telling Sabo that Luffy was, indeed, connected to the game. Why hadn't the game forcibly ejected him yet? It was supposed to be able to monitor things like this. It was programmed to eject the player in emergencies. And speaking of alarms, why weren't any of the fire alarms in the house going off? Ace was always careful about making sure they worked.

None of that was important right now, though. Sabo scrambled his way to Luffy's bed, eyes jumping between Luffy and the fire spreading their direction as he reached him. He struggled to remember how one would go about forcibly ejecting a player from the game from the outside without doing any damage. He decided he didn't have time to think about it and ripped the console's cord from the wall, remembering that the headset had an internal battery that lasted long enough to wake the player up.

Sabo winced as he brushed burning embers from Luffy's shirt before they could catch. "C'mon, Luffy, Wake up." Sabo begged, clawing at Luffy as he pulled him away from the wall.

Just as Sabo was about to topple Luffy to the floor, the boy gasped, sucking in a breath of air and then immediately began coughing violently. Sabo scrambled for the headset's clips and tore it from Luffy's head. He began to unwrap the towel from around his own face, "Luffy, we need to go right now." He begged, pulling Luffy into a sitting position and wrapping the towel around his neck the lower half of his face and Luffy continued to cough violently, grasping at his chest. "If we stay here any longer, we both die. We need to move. We can probably get out through the window in my room, just Like Ace said we should." Sabo couldn't suppress the cough as smoke and hot air filled his lungs. He turned away, his eyes watering as he tried to claw at his eyes to take out his contacts. He only managed to get one of them out, but all of the smoke residue on his fingers only managed to make the stinging in his eyes worse.

"What's— _cough cough—_ happening?" Luffy gasped, trying to stand, only for his legs to give out from underneath him, being uncooperative. He collapsed into Sabo, coughing violently a second time.

"The house is on fire, we need to leave." Sabo explained, voice raspy and wheezing with every breath.

"My limbs feel like jelly, I can't move." Luffy rasped, grasping at the towel around his neck. Sabo stopped him, knowing that Luffy was going to try and give it back to him.

"Keep the towel." Sabo insisted.

"But your asthma." Luffy wheezed.

"Sabo!" A voice called loudly from downstairs. Ace. "Sabo! GOD DAMN IT! You crazy ass mother fucker. WHAT ARE YOU DOING!? LET ME DO MY JOB!"

Sabo dragged Luffy away from his bed as the curtains fell and the blanket caught fire. "But Luffy!" Sabo yelled, triggering another coughing fit. He refused to let it stop him, however, as he pulled Luffy, who was slowly regaining control of his limbs and trying to get them underneath himself and working. But it wasn't happening fast enough. Sabo could already feel the water fully evaporating out of his clothing as the heat seeped into his skin. Sabo turned to look back down the hallway to find that his own room was already fully engulfed in flames. There was no reason for his room to be on fire yet. Was it on fire earlier? Sabo wasn't paying attention. Regardless, there went that escape rout.

Ace appeared out of the smoke dressed head to toe in his black firefighter uniform. Sabo didn't even need to see his face to know what kind of angry expression had settled on Ace's features. "God Damn it, Sabo. What the fucking shit were you thinking!?" Ace roared angrily.

Sabo opened his mouth to respond only to break into another wheezing, coughing fit as he took in a lungful of smoke. Ace started towards them quickly once more as Sabo staggered to his feet. He struggled to drag Luffy's half-limp and dazed form up with him, his little brother still recovering from being forcibly ejected from the game. Even though Luffy was recovering quickly, it just was not fast enough for the situation. Seconds mattered here.

"Sabo get back!" Ace yelled, rushing towards them as the sound of creaking reached Sabo's ears. Sabo locked eyes with Ace just before his brother's hands slammed into him and sent him sprawling into Luffy. Both of them collapsed back though Luffy's doorway and into a heap on the floor. A loud crash reverberated through Sabo's senses. An impact kicked up ash, dust, and smoke in every direction, clouding his vision. Sabo's lungs began to heave into a violent coughing fit but he clawed his way back through the doorway to where he spotted the collapsed wall and ceiling where he'd once been standing.

"Ace?!" Sabo rasped, searching for his brother amongst the rubble.

"I'm fine." Ace responded. "Just a little. Stuck. Just. I'll be fine. Get Luffy outside."

Sabo saw the rubble shift and Sabo shifted his angle to get a different line of sight into the rubble. He saw Ace pinned underneath and scrambled into action, grasping at the burning timber to try and shift it to help Ace out from underneath. "Luffy help me." Sabo begged desperately. The fresh air getting sucked in through the hole in the ceiling fueling the raging flames inside his own room and encouraging them to blaze even stronger than they already were. There was no doubt in Sabo's mind now that it had been targeted.

"No!" Ace growled. "Get out of here. I'll be fine!" His voice hissed at the end of the statement as the rubble shifted. "Fuck." Ace whispered.

"Are you okay?" Sabo rasped.

"Sabo! Stand back!" a second voice called, a second fire fighter appearing at the end of the hallway.

"But Ace!" Sabo cried desperately, ignoring the searing hot pain he felt as he pushed at all of the rubble that was trapping Ace.

"We will help him, you need to get out. We can't help him until you and Luffy are safe." The fire fighter scolded him.

Luffy had joined him by then, but after just one push he was already swaying dangerously on his feet. "Sabo, I don't feel so good." The words had hardly left his mouth before Luffy was throwing up against the wall. Sabo was torn between helping Ace and helping Luffy.

The other fire fighter was right. Luffy's knees gave out and Sabo scrambled to catch him, dropping the rubble in his hands. Sabo wasn't nearly fast enough. Luffy stumbled against the wall and the drywall beneath Luffy's fingers gave out, his little brother slipping through and falling into Sabo's blazing room. Sabo expected to hear a cry of pain as Luffy fell, but there wasn't a single sound. He wasn't moving. Sabo clawed at Luffy's waist to pull him back through the hole and see if Luffy was still okay. A third firefighter appeared, heaving Luffy up into his arms. "I got him." The man assured Sabo.

The floor beneath Sabo gave slightly and Sabo froze mid-turn to look back at Ace. He stared at the smoldering carpet and then looked up at the fireman on the other end of the hallway with his eyes wide.

"STEP BACK IT'S NOT SAFE THERE." The fireman commanded loudly.

"I have Luffy, you need to move." The one behind Sabo commanded.

Sabo reached for Ace's exposed leg. The floor groaned and protested under the weight pressing down on its weakened structure above where the fire was blazing the hottest. A hand grabbed Sabo's shoulder and started to tug him backwards, but then time slowed as the floor before him caved and then crumbled. Sabo threw himself forwards and out of the grip behind him, scrambling for a hold on Ace as he dove forwards. Heat and fire erupted from the kitchen below as he landed, reaching into the hole and just missing the toe of Ace's boot as Ace plummeted into the kitchen below. He felt the fire burning his hands, arms, shoulder, neck, and face as he lay on the edge of the crumbled floor, reaching down into the hole and staring as Ace hit the island and the rubble landed on top of him. Sabo nearly fell over the edge as the floor continued to crumble beneath him, but he lay dazed and staring at the glove sticking out of the rubble as fire tore at his skin. The smell of burning hair and flesh assaulted his senses as someone grabbed at his waist, hauling him backwards. Sabo tried to throw himself forwards once more, searing hot pain tearing at his torso.

"ACE." Sabo shrieked, the words tearing his throat, hands grasping at thin air as fire continued to burn through his sleeves. He struggled at the arms enclosed around his waist and stared down into the blazing inferno below them, trying to catch a glimpse of Ace amongst the growing flames.

"You need to come with me." A voice commanded in his ear, throwing Sabo to the ground and suffocating the flames burning through his clothing.

"Ace." Sabo wheezed, blinking furiously as he tried to relieve the burning pain taking over all of his senses while he struggled to get the air through his clenching throat.

"We'll get him out of there, calm down. We need to get you and Luffy to safety first, damn it. We can't get him while you two are still inside." He warned, shoving his oxygen mast onto Sabo's face as he hauled him to the broken window in Ace's room. As soon as the mask made contact with his face, Sabo felt the tears searing in his eyes as more pain exploded on his face. He realized immediately that something was horribly wrong.

The firefighter tried to pry Sabo's button up off of his torso, but ended up having to tear the fabric off of him, leaving pieces of it still stuck to his arms. Sabo went limp, letting the oxygen from the mask make an attempt to flood into his burning lungs, but his airways were seizing up fast. He would normally have started to panic, but now he was just feeling numb. He was pulled out of the window and down the ladder after Luffy and out to the waiting fire trunk before being lowered fully to the ground. He caught a glimpse of Shanks laying Luffy's limp form down on the stretcher outside one of the ambulances before his vision tipped and he realized he was being manhandled into someone's arms to be carried as well. He couldn't stop his shivering as he locked his arms around the firefighter's neck, still rasping for breath but losing control of his lungs. He dazedly turned his gaze and locked eyes with Makino. Her face, illuminated by the street lamps, was plastered with shock; a hand went straight to her mouth as she gasped in horror.

Sabo lifted a hand and stared at the blistering red skin on his hands and traveling up his arms. He turned his gaze to look at the fireman only to realize that the man's head next to his ear was in his blind spot. That was strange… but maybe that was how it was supposed to be. His mind was too foggy to fully comprehend anything at the moment. He was lowered onto a stretcher, but Sabo kept his eyes glued onto the front door of their house as the paramedics fussed with him. He was feeling really cold and he couldn't breath, but he needed to know that Ace was okay. He watched as the fire fighter that had carried him rushed back into the building, only to emerge seconds later with another, both of them dragging a limp firefighter between then.

Ace.

The paramedic shoved Sabo back, forcing him to stay down so that he could no longer see what the firefighters were doing. A breathing tube was shoved down his rasping airways and an oxygen mask pulled over his head. He locked eyes with the chubby paramedic with short blond hair.

"You and your brother will be fine." The man assured him. "We're going to get you to the hospital and they'll take good care of you, I promise." The shoved the stretcher into the second of the two emergency vehicles and the last thing he heard was Makino begging them to let her ride with him before everything faded to black.

* * *

Sabo came to awareness slowly, eyes lazily blinking open as the light flooded his senses. Once his eyes had adjusted, he took in the sight of a white washed ceiling and dim hospital, the sound of machinery beeping incessantly in his ears. His lungs took a breath without his permission and that would have probably alarmed him if he didn't feel like he was in a deep fog, floating absently through space. He tried to twitch his fingers, but they wouldn't move. His arms itched and his body ached at a dull endless throb that almost tempted him to just start clawing at his skin to relieve himself of the burning itch that tormented him. He was too tired for that, though.

"Oh, you're awake. It's about time you did, it's been three days." A smooth tenor greeted him. A silhouette leaned over him, blacked out by the soft light above. Sabo's eyes tried to adjust, but some things remained stubbornly blurry. He'd recognize scrubs anywhere, though. "It's actually a shame you woke up just now, though, because I was just about to start changing all your dressings and bandages." The man leaned back, exiting Sabo's narrowed line of sight, he didn't stop talking however just continued on as he was "I'm going to put this very bluntly. You're pumped full of morphine, but this is still going to hurt and it's going to hurt a lot, but if I don't do it than you will probably die. Unfortunately for you, the burn recovery process hurts more than it did to receive the burns themselves – even with the Morphine."

The man wasn't lying.

Despite the brusque warning, the man tending to Sabo was surprisingly gentle with the process. Sabo's cloudy mind half expected him to start ripping the bandages off of him with little to no remorse and enjoy every second of agony it caused, so it was a pleasant surprise when the man began to gently coax the bandages from his damaged skin with amazingly steady hands. Sabo did, however, wish that there was something with which he could distract himself from all the pain, unable to even make conversation to take his mind off of it with a tube disturbingly shoved down his throat to keep his air ways open and the oxygen flowing.

Eyes catching sight of the badge on the man's chest as he worked on his shoulder, Sabo focused on it in order to give his mind something else to focus on. It revealed that the man's name was Waterloo T. McCollum and that he was a resident surgeon. The last name McCollum was vaguely familiar to Sabo, however, and he wondered where it was that he'd read it before. His foggy memory failed to conjure up anything of worth out of it's void, though. Out of determination, he kept trying to dig but it became harder as he began to fade, eyes closing against the light.

He blinked open his eyes once more, the memory of the last time he'd opened them were vague at best. He swallowed thickly around the massive brick that was in his mouth called the tongue and was satisfied to discover that there was nothing shoved down his throat anymore. … how long was he out, exactly? Didn't seem like more than a few minutes but he was surprisingly more coherent than he remembered being.

"Welcome back to the land of the living." A familiar voice greeted him. Sabo turned his gaze to catch sight of the fuzzily familiar doctor standing next to him. He hadn't really got a good look at him the last time that he was awake. Sabo opened his mouth to speak, but was quickly silence with a critical glare "I wouldn't talk yet if I were you."

So Sabo closed his mouth again and leveled a curious gaze on the man instead.

"Hang on." The man disappeared from sight, returning with a cup of water with a straw in it. He lowered it to the side of Sabo's head, prodding Sabo's mouth with the straw and coaxing him to drink. Sabo graciously accepted, his mouth feeling like it was full of saw dust before he took the first sips of cool liquid that soothed his sand paper tongue. After just a few sips, however, the water was pulled away from him again.

Sabo opened his mouth to speak, hesitating to see if the man (Waterloo, his memory finally supplied) would stop him. He didn't, so Sabo tested out his vocal cords. "H—" he stopped, the first word catching almost painfully in his throat and sounding horribly foreign to his ears. He swallowed and tried again "How long… was I out?" he asked, voice scratchy and rough from damage and disuse.

Waterloo offered Sabo another drink of water that he very _very_ willingly accepted as the man explained "You fell back into a coma and you were out for another three days. That makes almost a week you've been in the hospital. A lot of your second-degree burns have begun to heal in that time, but your third degree burns are still an issue. They're doing better now, though."

Sabo released the straw and Waterloo pulled the cup away from him once more, setting it aside on the end table. Sabo worked his tongue in his mouth for a second before attempting to talk a second time "Luffy?" he asked, leaving the full question up to interpretation. Waterloo seemed like a smart guy, he'd get it.

"Ah, you're brother? He's recovering well, but he hasn't woken up yet. We hope he'll wake up tomorrow, but there's no guarantees." The doctor leaned back into Sabo's line of sight to say "He's got carbon monoxide poisoning and he's lucky it didn't kill him before he got to the hospital. He's got a nasty burn on his torso, too, but he's on the mend so there's no need to be worried."

"'at's good." Sabo managed to reply, his tongue and throat feeling a little looser now that he'd spoken a bit more, but the hoarseness was still rough on his ears.

"I'm gonna have to sit you up now. You have horrible timing, y'know? I'm here to change your dressings again. I'm not sure what all you remember of the talk I gave you the last time that you were semi-coherent, but it's going to hurt like a bitch and there aren't enough drugs in the world that we can safely give you in order to change that. We have other methods but, unfortunately for your case, there is nothing else in the books for you." Waterloo explained as he pushed the controls on the hospital bed in order to sit Sabo upright, letting go once he was satisfied with the angle.

"Why can't I?" Sabo asked as Waterloo pulled him forward in order to tuck some pillows behind him on the bed to prop him up more.

"It uses old Virtual Reality technology. We have burn patients play this winter wonderland game throwing snowballs at angry snowmen and penguins. It's really crude and hardly holds a candle to modern VR, but it works. Unfortunately, because of the burns around your eye, it's impossible for now." Waterloo revealed. He didn't actually look sorry, though. But then again, the doctor's expression hadn't changed much beyond a glare in the short time he'd known him.

It was fair enough, though, Sabo allowed, turning his gaze downwards in order to take in the extent of his injuries for the very first time. His hands were bound and held within splints in order keep his fingers in a set position. Bandages circled their way up most of Sabo's arms and there were more wrapped around his left shoulder. He couldn't see his neck or his face, but he didn't need to in order to know that there was a bandage covering most of the left side of his face and wrapped around his head to keep them in place. A memory flash of searing hot pain assaulted his mind and he winced, closing his eye and hissing slightly as the pain pulsed through his upper body. He quickly opened them again when he could see fire on the backs of his eyelids and was greeted by the sight of a straw. The doctor was offering him water again. Sabo gladly accepted before relaxing slightly.

Sabo eyed the doctor's badge once more as the man picked up Sabo's right arm and began to undo the splint. "Just so you know, I'm the one who operated on Luffy and I'm personally overseeing his recovery, so if you have any questions, I'm the guy to ask." The doctor revealed, drawing Sabo's gaze up to the doctor's slate grey eyes as Waterloo set the splint aside. Sabo's eyes drifted to the pale patch of skin that dotted the left side of the doctor's nose, contrasting against the man's, otherwise, darker complexion. As Waterloo continued, Sabo's gaze flicked back to his eyes "I didn't operate on you, however, the certified surgeon on staff that night did."

An alarm went off in Sabo's mind at those words "Wait, you me—" the words caught in Sabo's throat like gravel and he swallowed once before getting his hoarse voice to try again "You're not certified?"

"I'm still in my residency." Waterloo revealed, coaxing the dressing from Sabo's hand and forearm, causing Sabo to grit his teeth. The man answered his next question before it could leave his mouth, however "It means I'm an intern. Don't be concerned, though, it's mostly a formality." What the fuck was that supposed to mean? They let an Intern operate on his little brother? "I'm the most qualified doctor in this establishment, but I'm too young so people are skeptical. I'm getting my license next month, though, now that they've stopped being dicks about it. I would have had it years ago if life had gone as planned, but you can't plan for the unexpected. So, as I said, there's no need for you to be concerned." The man concluded, sounding a bit arrogant to Sabo. It was a little concerning if an intern was more qualified than the practicing doctors, though. Or maybe he really was just that damn good.

"How old are you, exactly?" Sabo asked around gritted teeth as the _intern_ threw the dressing into the trashcan next to him before washing his hands and turning back to the angry red burns on Sabo's hand and forearm. Sabo grimaced.

"Twenty-four." The intern responded, "I started med school when I was seventeen, should have been sooner, but there was a hiccup in my younger years so I just barely missed the window for being one of the youngest surgeons in history, but I don't mind. I'd rather people not talk about me that much, anyway. I hate publicity." The man scowled as he began to wash the burned areas of Sabo's arm. Sabo didn't doubt it. He knew how reporters could get.

The young surgeon's work continued on in relative silence, but by the time the man had finished cleaning and re-dressing the burns on his other arm, Sabo was in need of a distraction again. "So, Waterloo? Is it?" Sabo asked, finding that the more he talked, the less it felt like he was grinding stones in his throat like a dragon.

"I don't like being called Waterloo, so just call me Law," the surgeon corrected. Sabo felt like he should have known that name in combination with that occupation but he was on way too much Morphine to think about it that much.

"Okay, so, Law, I was wondering…" Sabo drifted off, watching the surgeon's deft fingers pry at the dressings on his shoulder. He gritted his teeth in pain as it tugged at the damaged flesh and Law had to use warm water in order to coax them apart.

"Yes?" Law prompted, glancing up at him before continuing his work.

"Right, um." Sabo gritted his teeth for a moment before forcing out his question "I was wondering if there was a… patient named Ace brought into the hospital as well? Same last name." he asked, eyes drifting to look at the IV connected to his arm.

Law's hands froze for a moment, a thoughtful look crossing his grey eyes for just a second before he frowned and shook his head "It's not ringing any bells. I don't think that we did, but I can look into it for you just to make sure."

Sabo nodded, satisfied with that answer and Law finished prying the dressing from his shoulder and began to clean it.

It was quiet once more for another few moments before Law surprised Sabo by breaking the silence first in order to ask "Your brother, Luffy, does he, by chance, play One Piece?"

Sabo couldn't help the sudden bark of laughter than sent a ripple of pain pulsing through his upper body. He hissed and closed his eye for a moment as he waited for the pain to subside, letting out a breath as he relaxed. Law quirked an eyebrow up at him expectantly as Sabo turned his gaze to look at him again before answering, "Yes. Yes he does." He finally responded. "Did." He quickly corrected. "He played all the time. He was actually playing when… the fire… I had to run in and pull him out…" Sabo drifted off, shaking his head slightly and pushing the thought from his mind.

Law nodded in understanding, resuming his work on Sabo's shoulder before he asked "What was his username, if you don't mind my asking."

"Straw_Hat_Luffy with underscores. He wouldn't have even had to tell us that's what it was for us to guess that's what it would have been." Sabo revealed with a soft smile, eyes glancing over to the cup of water on the little side table before looking down at Law's hands and seeing more of those paler spots dotting the surgeon's hands and forearms.

"I thought so." Law said as he finished cleaning Sabo's shoulder and began to re-dress the burn. "He's… we're… good friends in-game, don't tell him I said that. But my sister, believe it or not, is actually on his crew. I'll have to tell her that I got to meet her infamous captain in person." The surgeon's lips quirked up into a small smile before dropping into a frown just a second later. "I… only wish that the circumstances had been a bit more… fortunate." He sighed, pulled the cup of water closer to Sabo so that Sabo could reach the straw and take a drink once Law had finished re-dressing his shoulder.

It all suddenly clicked "You're the Surgeon of Death." Sabo realized.

"That's what people call me, yes." Law confirmed with a smirk, turning his attention to the last of the bandages on Sabo's face.

They let the conversation stall once more as Law worked, prying the dressing from Sabo's blazingly itchy face as gently as possible. Sabo chewed on his lower lip as Law worked before sucking in a soft breath and saying, "Law, I… have a request."

"Yes?" Law asked, pulling back slightly to look Sabo in the eye.

"Can you… show me what my face looks like now?" Sabo asked, finding that, by the end of his sentence, his voice was trembling. He reflexively tried to grip the blanket beneath his hands in order to ground himself, but the splints keeping his fingers locked in place prevented that. A flash of Makino's horrified face crossed his memory and he shoved it aside.

Law returned to his work, silent for a second as he thought about his response before saying "I don't have a mirror for you, so I couldn't even show you if I'd wanted to, nor do I advise that you look at it until it's healed. But, what I can tell you is this," Law threw away the used bandage and Sabo realized that there wasn't anything obstructing his vision in his left eye anymore and his heart sank "You're now completely blind in your left eye. The combination of a burned cornea and an eye infection from your contact did its damage before we could treat it thanks to your burn." Law met Sabo's gaze once more and there was hardly an ounce of pity in the man's eyes. Sabo appreciated it, but the news still cut into him like a red-hot knife to the chest. Not only had he lost everything in that fire, but he lost sight in his left eye, too. How much worse could it get?

Sabo sighed, breaking Law's gaze and peering down at his lap with a frown, feeling a ghost of that burning irritation in his eyes all over again. "I almost figured as much…" Sabo allowed, frowning.

Law tipped Sabo's head back up as he resumed his work "You'll have a nice scar on your face when you leave here, and it'll be hard." Law began, gently cleaning the burn "People will stare, there's no avoiding that, and you'll never get used to them. The only thing you can do is learn to live with them, but, even then, it'll still hurt whenever you catch someone staring," Law pulled back to look Sabo in the eye once more, "but you can't let that get in the way of you living your life. Besides, you got these burns when you ran in to save your brother, yeah? So take pride in that. Take pride in these scars and maybe it'll make it easier."

His words were surprisingly poetic. It was nothing that Sabo had expected to hear from the grim looking surgeon. But, when Sabo's eye wandered over the pale white splotch of skin on the left side of his nose and cheek, and down to the one on his Jaw that was partially hidden by his sideburns, and then on down to the one on his neck, Sabo understood instantly that the words came from experience. The man had probably dealt with those very same stares for most of his life and knew from experience just how much they hurt.

The rest of the session went on in silence as Sabo contemplated Law's words. He wondered if he really had it in himself to look at his scars in the mirror and tell himself that they were something that he could be proud of, that any stares would fail to make him feel self-conscious in any way. Sabo wasn't so sure yet.

* * *

Following his session with Law, Sabo was immediately plunged into physical therapy despite having only become coherent a few hours ago. They told him that recovering and maintaining range of motion in the joints following a burn to those areas was of vital importance to keeping mobility and that the earlier started the better when it came, especially, to the hands. They'd apparently started therapy on his limbs while he was still unconscious and Sabo was hardly going to protest doing it if I meant keeping his independence down the road. It was satisfying to know that, despite his burns, he would still do able to do things with his hands.

The therapist had just left after Sabo had gotten comfortable on the hospital bed once more when Law reappeared, his head popping through the cracked open door. "Hey, you think you're up to seeing a couple of visitors?" the surgeon asked.

Sabo considered the amount of Morphine fading out of his system after therapy, the horrible itching that covered his arms, shoulder, and face, and the soreness in his muscles and decided, ah what the hell it was probably Shanks and Makino anyway "Yeah, sure. I'm up for it," he allowed, taking a drink of the water through his straw. "I'm not too tired yet."

"Alright. I'll let them know you're ready and they'll be right up." Law informed him before ducking back out again.

Left by himself in the hospital room once more, Sabo relaxed against the back of the hospital bed, the sound of the machines the only thing there to keep him company. He closed his eyes for just a moment and saw the flashes of fire, the smell of burning hair and flesh assaulting his nose. His eye snapped open once more, an echo of his own screams in his ears. He glanced down at his splinted hands before he turned his gaze towards the corner where the wall met the ceiling and just stared at it, trying not to let his mind wander back into dangerous territory. He'd nearly lost the battle when the knock on the door finally came and it slowly swung open.

"Hey, kiddo." Shanks greeted softly, pulling Sabo's gaze down to meet the redhead's.

"Hey." Sabo echoed back in greeting, shifting on the bed slightly as Makino peered in as well. A flash of the look she'd given him when he was carried out to the ambulance greeted his memory a second time and he angled the left side of his face away from the door in a subconscious effort to hide it from them. Sabo didn't miss the way Makino's face fell at the action and he tried to tell himself that it didn't hurt at all.

Makino pulled the strap of a bag over her shoulder and then held the bag out in front of her for him to see. Sabo immediately recognized his messenger bag and he let out a relieved sigh. He moved to raise his hands and take it from her only to remember the state that his hands were in so he settled for simply stating, "You brought my stuff." He smiled softly. "I hope you've brought something in there to entertain me, too. This room is pretty much empty. It's only been a day and I'm already getting bored just sitting here." Already thinking too hard about how things will never be the same and trying so desperately to not let the existential dread consume him.

"Unfortunately, we couldn't bring your laptop or phone in because electronics mess with all of the equipment in the burn unit, but we did bring everything else that was in there as well as some books for you." Shanks informed him as he approached the chair in the back left corner of the room. He lifted the bag of stuff in his own hand with a smile before setting it down on the chair, "We also brought some stuff to decorate the room with. They okayed it all, so maybe it'll be able to bring some life to the place."

Sabo relaxed in his chair, trying to get himself to let the awkward tension in the room go. He didn't even mean for it to be there, but it was floating around them thick enough to almost choke on. "Thanks, I really appreciate it." He said, smiling an honest soft smile as he watched Shanks pull one of the several posters from the bag.

Makino set his messenger bag down on the chair in the corner as well "We brought some stuff for Luffy, too. He's not awake yet, but we figured we'd give his room the same treatment today. It's definitely good to see that you're doing a little better now, though." She smiled, helping Shanks unroll the first of the posters.

"That reminds me, I've heard about Luffy, but it seems that Ace isn't in the hospital, so how is he? Is he doing okay? I haven't heard anything about him and Law said that he doesn't think he'd been admitted." Sabo asked, watching as Shanks and Makino hung the first of the posters, it was of one of his favorite comic book characters.

Shanks froze, nearly dropping the corner of the poster in his hands. He finished sticking it to the wall, his lips pressed into a thin line. Sabo's smile immediately dropped as he looked back and forth between the couple. Shanks stepped back from the wall and looked down at the ground as Makino's hand went to her face. Her back was still turned to him, but Sabo could tell that her shoulders were shaking.

Sabo narrowed his eyes and asked, tone darker than he intended it to be, "What happened to Ace?" He had to be fine. He saw them. They pulled him out. He should be fine. He was okay, right? He was just in a different hospital? He couldn't be… Sabo refused to finish that thought.

"Sabo, I'm sorry." Shanks whispered, turning to look him in the eye. He looked utterly broken hearted as he met Sabo's gaze.

"Don't bullshit me." Sabo snarled, wanting so badly to grip the blanket beneath his fingers with hands that couldn't move.

"Sabo he—" Shanks began, but Sabo cut him off.

"He can't be dead." Sabo refused, tone falling to a whisper and hoping beyond hope that the next words out of either of their mouths wouldn't be the ones that he didn't want to hear. A flash of fire, the smell of burning flesh, his screams, Ace falling into the raging inferno below and the sickening crack once he hit the island and the rubble falling on top of him. The memories all jolted through him at once and he shook his head. He didn't want to believe it. There was no way. He couldn't be. Ace was the strongest of the three of them. He was their backbone. He couldn't be gone now. What would they do without them?

Makino reached out a tentative hand as she approached him, moving to smooth through the cut locks of Sabo's hair. It was an attempt to comfort him, but Sabo pulled his head away from her touch, shooting her an accusatory glare. He immediately regretted it as she pulled her hand away from him, looking hurt. Sabo's gaze immediately turned apologetic at the sight. It wasn't her fault. He shouldn't have done that. She didn't reach back out to him though, just looked down at the hospital bed for a moment while chewing on her lip before looking back up at him. Her voice was barely audible as she confirmed, "He's gone."

"No, no, no, no, no, no! He can't be." Sabo shook his head in denial, unwilling to accept it. If Ace was dead then… It was the fire that killed him then… and if the fire then…

A worn, unfolded, piece of paper dropped into Sabo's lap, snapping out of his downward spiral, but not distracting from it in the slightest. It was a printed out version of a news article and plastered across the top of the page was a headline reading " _Firefighter dies saving his two brothers from a house fire._ " Sabo's heart dropped into the pit of his stomach and he swallowed hard to fight the upwelling of tears as his throat tightened. He tore his eyes away from the headline to gaze at the image beneath it, a photo of the smoldering remains of what was once their house as firefighters hosed it down. Even from the distance of the photo, he could still recognize the charred remains of objects he once knew so well amongst the rubble.

It all finally began to sink in then, that everything was gone. That it was all _really_ gone. Everything that they had built their lives on, everything that they had achieved on their own had gone up in flames and now they had no where to go, nowhere to stay, nothing to their names. They had the hospital for now, yeah, but what about when they were discharged? He was sure that Makino and Shanks would offer up their place to stay at but Sabo didn't think he could do it. If Ace was dead it would just hurt too god damn much to stay in a place so close. A place where they spent so much time together. And how were they supposed to pay for their medical bills? And then Ace…

Sabo's eyes found the picture at the bottom of the page without bothering to read the article. It was a picture of the three of them together, standing with their arms around each other's shoulders and laughing. Ace was wearing that stupid orange cowboy hat that Luffy had gotten him when they were younger and smiling that goofy, genuine smile that took Ace years to find. His eye caught the quote underneath it " _What those brothers had was really something special… I cant even begin to imagine what losing Ace will do to them."_

Sabo didn't even bother trying to stop the tears that had begun to flow from his eyes. Simple tears quickly evolving into sobs that painfully wracked through his entire body. He sucking in a gasp of air and the keening cry that left his throat as he keeled over was almost painful for his healing voice. He lifted his hands to his head, wanting so badly to grab and pull at long hair that was no longer there with fingers that could no longer move as his upper body shook with every single sob that left his shaking body.

Another high pitched whine left Sabo's throat as a pair of arms wrapped around Sabo's shoulders and pulled him in tight. Sabo buried the uninjured side of his face into Makino's right shoulder and clutched at her shoulder blades with splinted hands, ignoring the pain of his burned forearms that were pressed against her back. "Ace is… Ace is…" the word caught in Sabo's throat as he sobbed. He swallowed and forced it out "dead… and it's… it's all… my fault." Sabo babbled between heaving breaths.

"No, no, no, honey. It's not your fault. Don't say that." Makino tried to assure him, running her fingers through the short hair at the back of Sabo's neck.

Sabo shook his head, shoulders shuddering uncontrollably as he openly wept "But it's true. It's… it's all… my fault. He's dead and it's all my fault." He keened "You don't understand." His breathing became erratic as he tried to force the words out, the knot forming in his throat making it all the more difficult "I-I-I didn't listen. I shouldn't have done it. All I… All I did was cause more trouble." Sabo nearly choked on a sob as Shanks wrapped him in a hug as well. "How can I…. how can I ever look Luffy in the eyes again? It's all my f-fault. It's all my fault that his brother is." Sabo swallowed hard as his voice descended further into blubbering near in-coherency "That Ace is… dead. He's. He's going to… he'd going to hate me." the last word evolving into sharp whine that left his throat as another painful sob tore through his body "he's going to hate me" he whispered as he sniffed, hugging Makino tighter. "It's all my fault…"

"Sabo, no. Luffy's not going to hate you. He won't blame you. Luffy loves you. You're his brother, too. It's not your fault." Makino tried to assure him.

"You don't understand." Sabo snapped, pulling back slightly. He began to shake his head slightly "You don't understand" he repeated, his whole body beginning to shake once more. He lowered his head, his breath shuttering in his chest. Sabo didn't listen, they set his house on fire, Sabo ran inside, Ace died saving Sabo, the fire killed Ace, so Sabo killed Ace. It was Sabo's fault Ace was dead. He couldn't tell them that. He couldn't tell them that the fire was his fault. If they knew that then they'd hate him, too. If Sabo had never come into their lives then this wouldn't have happened. It was all his fault that Ace was dead. "I can't… I can't face him. Ace is dead because of me. Ace was his family, not me."

"Sabo. You can't abandon Luffy now. You're his family and you're the only family he has left. You have to be there for him, too. Just because you're scared he'll hate you doesn't mean that you have permission to hide from him." Shanks scolded him "It's not your fault."

But it was.

* * *

A/N: And that's a wrap.

Fun fact: i've been turning the fire scene into a comic for my comic class this semester.

Anyway, Thank you all for your reviews, follows, and favorites! Please don't hate me for killing Ace D: I love you guys~

Next Chapter: Trying to pick up the Pieces

To be continued...


	16. Ch 16: Disaster Prt 2

A/N: Ah! Finally an update! I was super motivated to work on this today so I managed to finish this instead of working on my midterm. I needed a break anyway. Sorry that this took me a whole month to get done Dx But real life is more important. My midterms are going well so far. I only have a few pages left to do for tuesday and i hope to get those done tomorrow.

A few things before i get started. I just want to say Hoooooooly shit the response to the last chapter. Ya'll keep me motivated each and every day and i'm sorry i haven't properly responded to all of your reviews because i've been busy. Knowing that I managed to emotionally impact so many people with my writing is a pride that i didn't know that i'd ever feel. There's something so satisfying about knowing that. That I managed to accomplish what i'd set out to do. Makes writing worth it, y'know? Glad there are people out there who enjoy this as much as i have enjoyed writing it.

I'd also like to say that we're getting into the final stretch and I never thought that I'd see the day. It's been a wild ride and i've loved every single minute of it. If things continue to go as planned there's probably only ~5 chapters left (D:) before we reach the ending. Ironically, it might be finished the week the first chapter went up and that's a wild prospect. For it to take me exactly a year. Neat-o.

Kurogitsune Yue - I'll have you know that i am both kinds of People xD I both love Ace because he's one of my faves and I don't want him to die, but I'm also a sadistic bastard that wants to kill him and make everyone feel all the feels again because he's literally too precious for this world. I'm glad to have you along for the ride!

Everlight18 - It completely slipped my mind that I literally posted last chapter the week those episodes came out in the english dub. I remember cackling maniacally about that probably happening back when I was putting out the chapters for Thriller Bark and then i forgot about it when I actually got to it! I'm disappointed in myself lqtm. As for my comic, I might end up sharing it when I get it done. It'll be an abridged version of the scene and names will be different, and i'm not the best of artists. (I consider myself mediocre at best but people get mad when i say that so -shrugs-)

Everyone else! Even if i didn't respond to your review in particular i want you to know that You're amazing and I love you and your reviews meant the world to me. :D

Sorry this beginning A/N is so long, but without further ado... 

* * *

**Chapter 16**

Law washed his hands, having finished reapplying Sabo's dressings after a round of hydrotherapy to thoroughly clean his burns. It was probably the number one most agonizingly painful thing that Sabo had ever physically experienced, and now he was exhausted on top of all of his swirling emotions.

"Luffy's awake." Law mentioned absently, turning off the tap and drying his hands.

Sabo grunted noncommittally in response, staring blankly up at the ceiling. It was good that Luffy was finally awake and he appreciated being informed about his condition, but Sabo knew were Law was going with this and Sabo wasn't about to change his mind.

A heavy sigh reached Sabo's ears and there was a long pause. Sabo didn't even bother to turn his head to look at the surgeon.

"He's worried about you." Law said after a time.

Sabo closed his eye and sank further into the hospital bed, hoping beyond hope that Law would just go away and leave him be. He wasn't in the mood for this.

There was an agitated huff and the Law spoke "When I told him about Ace," Sabo flinched, apparently he would have no such luck, "The first thing he did was ask me how you were doing." He revealed.

Sabo wished suddenly that he were an armadillo so that he could just curl up into an armored ball and hide away from the rest of the world, but life wasn't fair. Instead he had to deal with nosey interns butting into his business and pouring salt into all of his fresh emotional wounds like an asshole.

"He doesn't blame you." Law tried to assure him.

Sabo didn't believe a single word. How could Luffy _not_ blame him for killing Ace? It was all his—

Something hit Sabo on the side of the face and Sabo scowled, turning to find a dry, crumbled-up piece of brown paper towel now sitting on his shoulder. Sabo finally turned his head to look up at Law so that he could scowl directly at the man, who scowled right back at him. "Get your head out of your fucking ass." Law snarled viciously "The world doesn't revolve around you. There are other people just as effected by all of this as you are, so you need to get your shit together. Luffy needs you to be there for him so don't you be a pussy and abandon him now. You know how much he hates to be alone."

Sabo chose not to think about how Law was close enough to Luffy to know that particular bit of information as he turned his eyes away from Law's searing gaze "But he's not alone." Sabo replied softly, turning his head to the other side of the room and staring absently at one of the posters on the wall. "He's got Shanks and Makino… he's got his crew… he's got you… he's got the soccer team… he's got all of the kids he coaches… he's got a lot of people…" he murmured, curling in on himself slightly. Luffy had everyone… and Sabo was sure that he'd just lost the only people here he had left.

"News flash." Law snarled. His footsteps drew nearer until the surgeon completely flooded Sabo's vision with his angry scowl "He's in the hospital, and will continue to be so for some time and when he gets out? He'll never be able to play soccer again because his lungs were too damaged from the fire. He'll lose his team, he'll lose all of the people I guarantee only talked to him to be associated with his name in soccer. High school kids can be shitty like that. And now, neither of you have headsets anymore so how the hell is he supposed to play One Piece and keep contact with his crew? And I don't know what the hell possessed you to even suggest that I would be able to be there for him, either. I might be his ally but its not my fucking job, it's yours." Law paused to take a breath and then continued, the venom having left his voice. "Yeah, he's still got your neighbors, but they aren't you, the only brother he's got left." Law straightened, staring down at Sabo with gray eyes like daggers into Sabo's skull. "Don't you think for a second that I'm letting you back out on him just because it's gotten hard." Law turned and began to walk away, whispering so softly that Sabo almost missed it amongst the upwelling of turmoil in his own head, "I would have killed to have someone there for me when my family died in that fire."

Luffy couldn't play soccer anymore? But… soccer was Luffy's life. That was his career. Luffy had offers for full ride scholarships to go to college for playing soccer if he wanted it. He could have gone professional. What was be going to do now, then? And Law was right. They didn't have headsets anymore. Sabo couldn't even play anymore to begin with so it had slipped his mind, but Luffy. How would he…? What about…?

Law picked up the wad of paper towel still resting on Sabo's shoulder and moved to the trashcan. "I'll let it slide for today." Law allowed, tossing the wad into the trash. "But tomorrow." Law drilled holes into the side of Sabo's head until he turned to meet the surgeon's gaze. "You'll be going to see him and you can't argue with me." Law turned to the door, wrenched it open, and then nearly slammed it shut as he departed, leaving Sabo on his own once more.

Sabo turned his head to look back up at the spot where the wall met the ceiling once more. It was a spot that he'd gotten very well acquainted with ever since he'd woken up the day before. He hadn't slept much. Every time he closed his eyes, fire lit up the backs of his eyelids. What sleep he did get was riddled with nightmares and left him more tired waking up than when he'd fallen asleep. It did nothing to curb the endless exhaustion he felt, the persistent aching in his bones, and the incessant itching of his skin beneath his bandages. It fought to keep him awake and so he'd lie there, staring at the ceiling. He'd counted the tiles over and over again, memorized every dip and blemish on their surface, and he's cried. Every time he thought he had it together a memory would bring him crumbling back down again. He wondered if there was anything left at the house. Anything at all left to remember Ace by, or if it would be like he'd never existed at all? Did all the traces of his life burn to ashes, leaving behind nothing at all to prove that he'd once lived? Was there nothing tangible left for them to hold on to?

Sabo felt the familiar sting in his eyes resurface and he closed them against the light, taking a deep, shaky breath in… and then out.

So Luffy was awake now, Sabo thought as he mentally boarded another train of thought. That was good. That meant he was getting better and it put Sabo a little bit more at ease. He wondered if anyone knew yet. It had been a week so there was bound to have been some word going around. If Law was… Nami? Nami sounded right. If Law was Nami's brother (not by blood if what Law had said earlier was true) then Nami must know by now. And if she knew then Luffy's crew would know. If Luffy's crew knew, then would Franky tell Kid? What would Kid do once he found out? The thought both terrified and amused Sabo for a moment. Kid was such a loose canon that, even though Sabo had known the man for the good part of seven years now, he could hardly predict what the mechanic might do.

Back to the list. How would Koala find out? She probably wouldn't. Not unless he found a way to tell her himself. And what about Chris? Sabo'd missed an entire week of work by now, but with the amount of people that walked in and out of the shop every day, there had to be a guarantee that he'd learned of what happened if he hadn't seen it in the news. If not, then Makino and Shanks might have called in for him or something. There was no telling how widespread the news had gotten locally, though. With social media it was bound to have made its rounds somehow. But there was no gauging it when he'd been living under a rock since the fire.

Frowning as he neared the bottom of the list of people who should learn about what had happened, Sabo opened his eyes once more. The biggest question of all then was… who would tell the Whitebeard Pirates? Did they know already, or where they all left in the dark? From the way Ace talked about them it was like they were one huge family and, so… who would tell them? They were a big crew, so maybe it had already made it up the grapevine. But, the world was bigger so there was absolutely no guarantee that any of them were actually close enough to Summit to know. But, then again, he wouldn't put it past the Straw Hats to pass the news along themselves. Sabo couldn't think of any group of people that deserved to know about what happened more than the Whitebeard pirates did.

There was no doubt in Sabo's mind that his 'father' already knew about what had happened and speaking of fathers, there were others to be concerned about, too. What about Garp? What about Ace and Luffy's dads? How would they find out? Had Ace ever finished reading all of those letters? Had he ever responded? It hardly mattered now that they'd all probably burned to a crisp. Sabo stopped that train of thought before he got to ahead of himself. He was walking back into dangerous territory again. Gramps. Would Gramps come home one day to find that the house was gone? Would he ever come back at all? Where had he even gone? Would he tell Ace and Luffy's dads?

The thought suddenly crossed his mind that… maybe _he_ should go back. Back to Boston or New York or wherever it was they wanted to take him. If he goes back then they wont think to try and hurt Luffy again, right? If he went back to Celestial with his tail tucked between his legs to lick his wounds then they wouldn't dare. The thought sickened him, though. He couldn't believe that he'd even considered going back to his father's company for even a second. He almost became physically nauseous at the thought of agreeing to go back there after they had killed Ace. No, _he_ had killed Ace. Suddenly the option to go back seemed like a good one again. He probably deserved to go back there and be miserable again so that Luffy wouldn't have to live with Ace's killer. Luffy was sure to be much better off without him.

 _Luffy needs you to be there for him… you know how much he hates to be alone_.

Sabo sighed and closed his eyes. 

* * *

"Get up." Law commanded harshly, not even attempting to hide the fact that he was apparently still very much pissed off at Sabo.

Sabo let out a long sigh, resigning himself to his fate before he tentatively reached down with his toes and eased himself to his feet.

Law grabbed the pole on which Sabo's IV's hung and demanded, "Follow me." Before he turned on his heels and took long strides to the door, forcing Sabo to start walking if he didn't want his lifelines to be ripped from his body. Law held the door open for Sabo and beckoned that he exit the room before he did, probably to walk behind Sabo to keep and eye on him.

There was a hesitation in Sabo's stride as he took a deep breath. The slight shake in his knees when he finally made his way into the hallway had nothing to do with his legs. His legs were fine, but the fear threatening to claw its way through his chest was a different story all together. So didn't know why he was so afraid. It was just Luffy.

Scratch that. Sabo knew exactly why he was terrified, but he didn't want to think about it. Didn't want to think about what Luffy might say when they saw each other. Shit, now he was thinking about it. What _would_ Luffy say when they finally saw each other? What was Luffy feeling? Sabo was scared that he'd be right about how Luffy felt, but… Sabo was even more terrified of the idea that he was wrong. He could deal with Luffy hating him as much as Sabo hated himself right now because he deserved that, but what would he do if he were wrong? What if Luffy forgave him? Impossible.

"We're here." Law said, drawing Sabo out of his spiraling thoughts much to soon. Sabo glanced at the closed door in front of him and realized that this room was right next door to his own. Sabo could have done with another few hours with which to gather up all of his wits before confronting Luffy, not just ten steps down the corridor.

Law met Sabo's gaze and Sabo was surprised at the quirk in the surgeon's eyebrow that asked him if he was okay to go in now. Sabo shook his head. No, he was not ready. It would be great his he could just turn around and go back to his own hospital room now. Law narrowed his eyes and then pushed the door open anyway.

Sabo mentally slapped himself for being such a coward because Sabo was _not_ a coward. He took a deep breath and steeled himself, taking the first steps into Luffy's room without Law's prompting. Sabo let his eye roam over the room, seeing a pirate flag, a poster, an old, battered, straw hat, a few robot toys that had been obviously been salvaged from the rubble, and Luffy. His little brother lay there in a hospital bed with an oxygen mask still fitted over his mouth and bandages wrapped up all over his upper body.

Castling a glance towards Law, Sabo started towards the hospital bed. There was a shift as Luffy turned his head to look at him and then he smiled "Sabo…!" he rasped, lifting a hand.

"Luffy!" Sabo quickly rushed forwards, all previous hesitation gone in a flash. He came to a stop at Luffy's side, looking down at Luffy apprehensively, eyes flicking over Luffy's form now that he was close enough to get another look at him. He looked frail like this and it wounded Sabo to know that he was the reason why. Luffy was never meant to look frail. He was always so full of life, energy, and joy… this was wrong.

"I didn't think you were gonna come…" Luffy admitted, voice hoarse and eyes half lidded as he stared up at Sabo.

Sabo pursed his lips, unable to say anything to refute Luffy's fear. "Well, I'm here now…" Sabo said instead.

"It's not your fault." Luffy said, resting his raised hand on Sabo's forearm. Right to the chase.

"Bullshit. He'd still be alive if it weren't for me." Sabo growled as he took a seat in the chair next to the hospital bed.

"I'd be dead if it weren't for you." Luffy reminded him.

"There wouldn't have even _been_ a fire if it weren't for me." Sabo replied softly, leaning forward to rest his head by Luffy's hip. Pulling the blame back to himself once more.

A fist connected weakly with the back of Sabo's head and he winced slightly as a small twinge of pain shot through his entire body anyway. "Sabo's stupid." Luffy whispered.

Sabo chuckled mirthlessly "Yeah, I am…"

Their sorry excuse for a conversation stalled there, the two of them sitting in a nearly suffocating silence. Silence that was mostly Sabo's fault as Luffy made attempts at conversation that Sabo only met with half-hearted grunts in reply. Being with Luffy had only succeeded in making Sabo even more painfully aware that Ace gone, that it was his fault, and that there was nothing he could do about it.

Sabo drew back until just the left side of his forehead rested on the corner of the mattress. He took in a breath of air, moving to say something but the words catching in his throat. He closed his mouth again and swallowed. He needed to know, though. He had to ask, so he tried a second time "Why…" he drifted off.

"Hm?" Luffy hummed, beckoning him to continue.

"Why don't you blame me?" Sabo managed to ask, his voice cracking. He took a shuddering breath in and held it as he braced himself for the answer.

"Because you would never do anything to hurt us." Luffy replied, not a hint of uncertainty in his rough voice. He coughed, drawing Sabo's gaze upwards, and then coughed again, eyes clenched shut in pain.

"But I did!" Sabo argued "The fire was my fault. They tried to kill you. You got caught up in my mess and you almost died. And Ace… Ace is… he's… He's _gone_ " he forced out. "He's gone because he tried to save me. He died because of me." Sabo's throat tightened painfully as tears he couldn't hold back stung his eyes.

"You only did what you thought you should do. It's not your fault." Luffy reminded him, coughing again and Sabo felt bad all of a suddenly for dragging Luffy into such a tough conversation when he was still healing.

"I was wrong." Sabo declared "I shouldn't have done it. I made a mistake." Sabo took a shuddering breath. "I made a mistake and now Ace is dead." A tear spilled down his cheek "And you… you can't play soccer anymore and." Sabo gestured helplessly to himself. "And I'm half blind and covered in scars." He released the remaining air in his lungs before taking another breath as the tears continued. "How… how can you forgive me so easily?"

"Because I never blamed you in the first place" Luffy reminded him, bringing them full circle.

"But why?" Sabo heaved in a breath, leaning forward once more to rest the uninjured side of his head on the bed again. "Why…?"

"What do you want me to say?" Luffy snapped, his breathing getting heavier after his outburst. He grabbed the oxygen mask with a scowl and pulled it back over his mouth, obviously frustrated at his need to depend on machinery in order to breathe.

Sabo didn't know what he wanted Luffy to say anymore. Knowing that Luffy didn't hate him and that he'd forgiven him had only succeeded in making him feel worse because he knew that the only one who hated him was himself.

There was a jangle as clicking footsteps ventured into the room, too light to be a person. He turned, eyes angled down as he caught sight of a fluffy white dog making its way towards them.

"Ahh… Bepo's here." Luffy smiled, reaching weakly with his fingers. The dog nuzzled Sabo's knee before jumping up onto the foot of the hospital bed and stretching out by Luffy's legs. The dog inched further up the bed until he was within Luffy's reach so that Luffy could thread his fingers through the dog's fur.

Sabo tentatively reached out with his splinted hands and felt Bepo's fur, a nearly invisible smile tugging at the right corner of his lips. He eyed the orange collar and bandana around the dog's neck and was interested to discover that Bepo was a therapy dog on duty at the hospital. He made a note to ask about what kind of dog he was. He suspected that he might be a Samoyed but he wanted to make sure.

Some time passed quietly like that, Sabo stiffly stroking Bepo's fur and finding himself slowly relaxing as the dog sighed and wiggled to get more comfortable. There wasn't a sound from Luffy aside from his steady breathing and Sabo had thought that maybe he'd fallen asleep, but when he'd stood to leave he was surprised to find that Luffy was watching him.

"Are you leaving?" Luffy asked, eyes looking hopeful that he might say no. Sabo was surprised that Luffy would even want to spend any time with him because he hadn't exactly been the best of company.

"Yeah, I'm getting tired." Sabo excused, not exactly lying but not exactly telling the truth either.

Luffy frowned, but didn't argue. "Are you going back?" He asked after a pause, sounding almost scared.

Sabo narrowed his eye, a little confused and wondering why Luffy would ask the same question twice but in a different way. He ran back through what he'd answered before elaborating "Yeah. I'm just heading back to my room for now…"

"That's not what I meant." Luffy corrected him, startling Sabo.

Oh.

Pausing, Sabo turned to look at Luffy once more. He evaluated him with a narrowed eye and considered what Luffy was asking. What his little brother must have actually wanted to know was whether or not Sabo would be leaving Summit City, it was the only other option that Sabo could come up with and the question felt like a hot knife through his chest. Even Luffy could tell. He dropped his gaze to the floor, shoulders drooping as he considered the question. Luffy was way too damn perceptive when he didn't want him to be. Sabo took a shallow breath and then whispered. "I don't know yet…" He didn't dare look at Luffy again as he made his way to the door, pushing his IV stand along with him. He didn't know what Luffy thought about what Sabo had said. He paused in the doorway however and tentatively offered "I'll… be back for dinner… if they'll let me…" before he finally exited the room. 

* * *

An hour before Lunch, Sabo got a visitor… a couple of visitors actually. A ruckus in the hallway was what announced their presence as Law threatened to gut a man. "I swear to god that I will dissect you alive if you even think about lighting that. This is a burn unit. The patients here are sensitive to smoke and you reek of it."

"I'm here to see Mr. Mongas." A gruff voice stated, seeming not to care.

"I know and you're not setting foot in that room." Law snarled. "You can open the door but you're not going inside."

"I'll have you know that I'm with the SPD." The voice countered.

"Do you have a warrant?" Law shot back.

"No, we don't." A vaguely familiar female voice cut in "So please, sir, just… listen to the doctor. These are his patients and we should listen to him. We're not even supposed to be here."

"… Fine." The male voice harrumphed. "It's this one, right?"

"Yes, sir."

The handle turned and the door was thrust open, revealing a large, bulky man in a biker jacket and jeans. An unlit cigar hung from his mouth as he eyed Sabo critically. "I am Captain Smoker of the Summit City PD and I am here for answers, kid." He glanced over his shoulder at where Law must have still been standing and demanded, "Scram. I have confidential things to discuss with this patient."

Sabo's eyes widened as he tensed, sinking deeper into his hospital bed. There would only be one thing that the police could be here for and that was for his information. There was no way he was letting anyone pry that from him until he knew it was safe. Not again. Not after the fire. Not after he had killed Ace and ruined Luffy's future by trying to reveal what he knew. No one was getting their hands on that information.

"There are people trying to pay us a lot of money to say that the fire in your home was an accident despite how obvious it is that it was arson, so if you have anything for me that might clear up what's going on here you better cough it up now, kid." Smoker nearly spat as if accusing Sabo himself for what had happened. Which wasn't inaccurate. It made complete sense, and of course Celestial'd try to cover this up just like they'd covered up everything else.

"Captain! He's been through a lot. Please be more considerate. Let me talk to him." That vaguely familiar female voice cut in again as she pushed her way past Smoker in the doorway and stepped into the room.

Sabo recognized her immediately and his eyes went wide "Tashigi?" He asked tentatively.

"Sabo?" She recognized. She glanced between Smoker and Sabo. "I thought it might have been a coincidence but… did you… was this…?"

Sabo nodded, understanding what it was that she was getting at.

"Well I'll be damned." Smoker hummed thoughtfully, rubbing his chin, "So that's what this is about." He grabbed Tashigi's arm and then pulled her after him as he left the hospital room. "I'll be back tomorrow!" Smoker's voice reached him from the hallway "And you better be prepared to give us what we want when we come back."

Sabo sat gaping at the open doorway as Law appeared in it, looking confused. Sabo turned his gaze to his messenger bag where it still sat untouched in the comfy chair by the corner where Makino had left it the day before. Were his flash drive and notebook still in there? They should be. Not unless someone took them out. Hopefully it was still in there and if it was still in there than that meant he probably still had all of his research with him. He really hopes that he hadn't accidentally left it at home before he'd left for game night. Sabo didn't know what he'd do if he'd lost it all.

But then there was Tashigi to think about. Did this mean that when Tashigi had said she was transferring out of Boston it was to come to Summit City? Talk about coincidences. If this Captain Smoker guy was someone that had believed Tashigi like she'd said then that would mean that he was on Sabo's side and not Celestials. If he'd come to the hospital to see him out of uniform and without a warrant to question him despite it apparently being against orders than that had to count for something. It also meant that the whole station wasn't on the same page as Smoker.

Law cleared his throat and Sabo turned to look at him again, realizing that Law must have spoken and Sabo had completely spaced on what he'd said.

Knowing that he had Sabo's attention now, Law repeated, "Before they suddenly barged up here I was on my way to tell you that you've got another visitor."

"Yeah. And that guy almost ran me over on his way to get here. What, you got people left and right fighting to see you or something? Did this become a competition to see who gets here first?" Chris smiled as he appeared in the doorway, holding a box in his hands. "I didn't know you were so popular."

Sabo smiled "Hey, Chris. I'm kinda surprised to see _you_ here."

Chris almost looked offended as he stepped into the room and let the door swing shut behind him. "It's Sunday. The store's closed today so of course I'd come in to see my best employee. It's good to see that you're still all in one piece, champ." Chris quipped as he approached the hospital bed. Ha. One Piece. "I bet you're hungry." Chris declared as he set the box down.

Sabo considered the question but realized that he wasn't sure if he was hungry or not. He checked the time and saw that it was probably time for lunch. "I might be, haven't had much of an appetite though." Sabo admitted, frowning.

Chris cast him a sympathetic glance as he set the box down on the tray attached to the hospital bed. "Well, they said that you needed to eat a lot of calories in order to recover and that bringing in comfort foods and the like would be awesome for you, but the hypocrites wouldn't let me bring you mountain dew and cookies. So, I brought you the next best thing, a caramel apple shake with a side of chicken alfredo from the best Italian restaurant in town." Chris informed him as he pulled the promised food items from the box and set them aside on the tray before moving the box to the chair next to the hospital bed. The way that Chris handled the box told Sabo that there were still things in the box and Sabo wondered what that might be.

"You are literally the best boss a man could as for." Sabo sighed as Law appeared at his side, holding out his hand. Sabo stared at it before he offered his own arm to the resident surgeon.

The man began to undo the splint on Sabo's right hand in order to free it up so that Sabo could eat. Law let it aside before excusing himself once more to give the two of them some privacy. "I'll be back in an hour to kick you out," Law informed Chris before shutting the door and leaving them alone.

Sabo reached out and pulled the tray attached to the hospital bed closer to himself. He stretched his fingers a few times before tentatively accepting the fork that Chris provided him with before opening the take out box for him. Steam rose out of the box of creamy white noodles, telling Sabo that it was still fresh. Chris shoved a straw into the shake and Sabo grabbed it, taking a long satisfying gulp of the sweat, cool liquid. He didn't even know that the caramel apple shakes were back in season already.

"This isn't all I brought you, either." Chis revealed, confirming Sabo's suspicions. Sabo twirled the fork in the noodles before shoving them into his mouth. Chris waited until Sabo was done chewing before he pulled a stack of comic books from the box. "For your entertainment…" Sabo paused in twirling another bite of noodles on his fork as Chris tilted the stack so that Sabo could see the front cover. "I brought you Captain America."

Sabo dropped his fork into the noodles, eyes darting between the Captain America poster and the comics in Chris' hands. "You what? No way. What. Why? Wh—I don't understand. You brought me your Captain America Collection? Why would you do that?" Sabo gasped at a lost for words, waving his hands uselessly.

"I know being in the hospital can be boring, so I figured that you'd need something to do with your free time between visits and I know how much you like to read Captain America." Chris smiled.

"You didn't need to do that." Sabo frowned as Chris put the stack back into the box.

"Maybe I didn't, but I wanted to. You need to start over somewhere and while a collection of Captain America comics is neither here nor there, it's something to call your own." Chris explained, picking his words very carefully. "Now eat." He commanded, moving the box to the floor in order to take the chair for himself.

They talked for a while as Sabo ate and he had to admit that it cheered him up a little bit to have someone there determined to take his mind off of things for at least a little bit. Despite that, it was always lingering in the back of his mind. Every time Sabo thought of an amusing anecdote, it always brought him back to the memory of Ace and the things that the three of them had done growing up together. He missed Ace. It had only been a day but it already felt like an eternity without him.

Sabo'd never realized just how important both Ace and Luffy were to him until suddenly one of them was gone forever. Gone much too soon and much too young. He'd never imagined that there'd be a time in his life that Ace wouldn't be there for him and Luffy. Ace being gone had left a gaping hole in his chest that nothing could possibly fill.

"You okay, buddy?" Chris asked, pulling Sabo out of his thoughts.

Sabo lifted a hand and touched his cheek and was surprised to find tears there once again. "Sorry." Sabo muttered weakly, wiping his cheek with his bandaged hand and wincing slightly as he did so. "I'm just a mess. It… I just… I don't..."

"That's fine." Chris interrupted him, saving Sabo from having to stumble over his words for an excuse that he knew he couldn't make. "I once lost someone, too." Chris revealed, surprising Sabo. "Someone very close to me so I can empathize with what your feeling. Just, never apologize for crying, it's only natural. Frankly, I'd be more concerned if you weren't."

"But still." Sabo sniffed, trying to reign himself back in.

There was a knock on the door and it opened to reveal Law, meaning that their hour was up. "Out you go. We've got a schedule to keep." Law ordered.

"Well, I guess I'm headin' out then." Chris sighed as he stood, gathering up the trash left over from Sabo's meal. "Whenever you're ready, there'll always be a place waiting for you at the store." Chris smiled, waving farewell before he exited the room.

"You ready?" Law asked, stepping into the room and letting the door close behind him.

Sabo dried his tears from his hand onto the blanket before rubbing his cheek on his shoulder to make sure all of the tears were gone. "Yeah." he sniffed. "Let's get this over with." 

* * *

After another painful session, Law revealed to Sabo that he no longer needed to wear the splint on his right hand and there were now significantly less bandages on his right arm than there were the day before. He could now see the soft pink network of scars on that arm and wondered just how badly scarred his left arm, which was still heavily bandaged, would turn out. The dressings on his neck and his shoulder had also been removed and some ointment had been spread onto his freshly uncovered scars in order to keep the pinkish to reddish-brown scar tissue from drying out. He was lucky that he was right handed or else things would continue to be a complete pain in the ass for him. Sabo frowned at that thought, remembering that Ace had been left-handed.

Would it always be like this? Sabo wondered. Would literally every single little tiny thing continue to remind him of what he'd lost, jabbing white-hot spikes of pain into his chest with every single memory that arises? Sabo didn't know how long he could survive it if that was the case. It was hard to imagine a day when it wouldn't hurt every time he thought about his older brother. It was just as hard to imagine a life without him, but here they were…

Time passed in faint misery as he stared at the place where the wall met the ceiling until, eventually, Sabo did end up heading next door with permission to see Luffy for dinner. A nurse brought both of their meals to them in Luffy's room before leaving the two of them on their own to eat the hefty amount of calories presented to them.

Between bites, Sabo remembered that there had been a dog here in the room the last time he'd visited and he wondered where the dog was now. What was his name again…? Started with a B…

Movement caught Sabo's eye and he looked down in time to catch Luffy's fork on his plate, speared through a piece of Sabo's chicken. Sabo followed the line of Luffy's arm up to his face and stared at his little brother challengingly. Luffy smirked and then shoved the piece of chicken into his mouth just before Sabo's own fork could jam into the piece of chicken in order to save it. Sabo's fork hit his plate instead with a loud clack and Sabo flinched, looking to the door and then checking the plate to make sure that it hadn't cracked, chipped, or broken.

The door creaked open and a nurse asked "Is everything okay in here?" as she poked her head into the room.

"Yup. All fine." Sabo assured her, sentences a little clipped as he pursed his lips, sitting a little straighter than he usually would and casing her a sideways glance.

"Alright then." The door closed again and Sabo turned to meet Luffy's gaze as his little brother finally swallowed his stolen morsel.

There was a moment were neither of them moved before Sabo snorted and they began to laugh. Sabo's laugh was quiet at first, but slowly grew into full, hearty laugh that shook his entire body. He clutched his stomach and winced in pain, but he couldn't stop the laughter that was bubbling up out of him. He could hear Luffy laughing just as much, which only succeeded in fueling Sabo's own laughter until there were tears squeezing out from the corners of his eyes. He didn't even know why he was laughing. There really was no reason for it. The event hadn't even been that funny, but for some reason it had set him off and now he couldn't stop. He met Luffy's gaze as his laughter died down and saw the relieved smile on his little brother's face. Sabo calmed himself, smiling softly at Luffy, occasional small bouts of laughter leaving his chest every time he thought that he might have finally calmed down.

Maybe it was the stress of everything that had happened and all of the emotions that had tightly wound up like a rubber band inside Sabo's chest. All it had ended up taking was something as simple and Luffy stealing a piece of his food just like old days, as if nothing at all had changed, for all of the tension to unravel. Luffy had probably done it on purpose, Sabo mused. It made him both realize and accept the fact that Luffy really didn't blame him at all. That Luffy didn't think that he should go anywhere. That Luffy didn't think that Sabo was, in anyway, at fault even though he might not know the entire story and that was okay.

Sabo knew that it would take time for him to come to terms with it himself. He couldn't shake that pit in his stomach the told him he'd killed Ace, but maybe he could start coming to terms with it. Luffy had made it clear he wanted to be there every step of the way. What was he thinking… leaving Luffy on his own and running away? Sabo wasn't a coward. They were supposed to work through this together.

There was a noticeable change in atmosphere after that. It was like the wet blanket that had been draped over them since that morning had finally been lifted. They weren't back to normal, far from it. It would probably never go back to normal with Ace gone, but they could find a new normal. Luffy gave him hope for that.

Time passed and a knock on the door distracted them from conversation as the two brothers finished eating. It slowly swung open and Sabo turned to see who had come to visit them.

"Nami?" Luffy asked, sounding puzzled. Sabo took in the long red-bronze hair of their new visitor and recognized whom it was. Her hair was a lot longer that the short hair she sported in the game, she wasn't as skinny, and there were far more freckles covering her face than there were in the virtual world, but her posture left no doubt that this was the Straw Hat's navigator.

"What? Surprised to see me? My brother literally sees you every day. Did you think I wouldn't find out?" Nami scowled.

She had a point.

"I had to drive three hours to get here and I kicked my bother to his couch so I didn't have to rent a hotel room. You're lucky I'm not charging you for gas." Nami huffed, sounding annoyed but not looking anything of the sort with the smile that adorned her face.

"I think I'm gonna head back to my room then." Sabo excused himself, starting to stand.

"Oh no, don't leave on my account." Nami dismissed with a wave f her hand "You're his brother I don't want to interrupt, just stopped by to say hi."

Sabo shook his head "It's getting late and I'm tired." He excused, but he wasn't lying. He really was getting tired. He turned back to Luffy with a soft smile "I'll be back for breakfast, 'kay?"

"Promise?" Luffy asked.

"Promise." Sabo assured him, grabbing the wheeled pole that held his IVs and heading out to the hallway. He made it about three steps before Nami stopped him.

"Hey," She began, drawing Sabo's attention to her.

"Can you keep a secret?" She asked, smiling.

"Depends on what it is?" He replied tentatively.

"I told everyone about what happened." Nami began "And they all agreed to come out here as soon as they possibly can. I want it to be a surprise for Luffy, but I figured that you should know. We're going to throw a party as soon as everyone gets here and you need to be there, too." Nami said, looking a bit mischievous.

"Why?" Sabo asked, narrowing his eye wearily and wondering what it was she had planned.

"You're his brother, dumbass." Nami scowled "But anyway, you'll see. We've got quite the crowd showing up." Nami winked before putting her hand back on the door handle. "So don't tell Luffy. We want it to be a surprise for him."

Sabo nodded then "I wont tell him."

"Good!" Nami grinned, "Visiting hours are almost over so I'll see ya around then." She waggled her fingers in farewell before pushing the door open and disappearing back inside.

Sabo wondered briefly what she had planned, but shook his head, pushing the thought from his head as he went back to his own room for the night, feeling a bit lighter now than he had been when he'd left it.

* * *

A/N: And that's a wrap. Sorry that this chapter had so many breaks in it but what can ya do? -shrugs-

Anywho, thank you all again for all of the favorites, follows, and reviews! And all of you new readers, welcome aboard, i'm glad to have you!

I'll be deleting the intermission that that i'm putting up the newest chapter.

Next chapter: Moving forward with some unexpected company

To be continued...


	17. Ch 17: Disaster Prt 3

A/N: Sorry for the delay! It's getting into finals now, so I've been a bit swamped. But at least the chapter is finally here!

Some warnings for this chapter: We get into some backstory this chapter so there's implied past drug abuse and implied depression/attempted suicide, aside from that there are some mentions of gory nightmares (but they're short/vague descriptions but warning just in case), and I can't remember if there was something else that I was supposed to warn about, too. I don't think there was. I don't think any of it is as horrible as those warnings make it sound xD But I put them here just in case anyway.

But anyway, I won't bore you with chat at the beginning of the chapter for much longer so...

Without further ado:

* * *

 **Chapter Seventeen**

The week passed by with relative calm. Much to Sabo's concern, Tashigi and that police captain hadn't shown up on Monday like he'd been promised when they'd abruptly left the hospital room. Sabo had to wonder why they hadn't shown up and he hoped that they weren't in any trouble. He was sick of being completely detached from the outside world while in his hospital room with little to interrupt the daily humdrum of hospital life. He wasn't looking forward to the talk, but it hadn't left the back of his mind. He'd hate for more people to get caught in the crossfires again.

Thinking about it, the only excitement he got throughout the week was from visitors, really. Their periodic drop-ins were the only things that kept him relatively sane. Shanks and Makino were the most consistent visitors, making periodic visits to the hospital to see both him and Luffy at least once a day if they could. But it was on Wednesday when Shanks and Makino had come in to inform him that Ace's funeral had been planned for that Sunday and that the hospital had cleared Sabo and Luffy for being able to attend. Their recovery was the only reason why the funeral had been delayed for so long. They'd only visited once since.

So, aside from the couple, the only other people to drop by were his old freshman English teacher and a group of regulars from the comic book store. His old teacher had come to visit on the Tuesday, surprising Sabo by even remembering who he was. That teacher had been the one who'd inspired Sabo to get into writing and had been his favorite teacher back in high school. The regulars that had dropped by on Thursday, when he'd usually be running their tabletop campaign, had shown up to give him a collection of tabletop game guides and a few sets of dice in order to wish him well with his recovery, hoping to see him at the store again soon.

There was something surprising about the kinds of people that had visited and those that hadn't. The kind of people that really cared enough to take the time out of their day to visit someone in the hospital. It got Sabo thinking and he finally realized how Kid must have felt all those years ago, back when they'd first met. But, other than the occasional visit, Sabo was left mostly to his own devices, which proved to be a detriment to Sabo's own mental health. Leaving himself to his thoughts led to over-thinking, over-analyzing, and too many times asking himself what-ifs. The nightmares hadn't helped that in the slightest. Each one of them was still burned into his minds eye. He'd dreamed of watching Ace burn to death just outside of his reach, of not making it in time to save Luffy, and of his own flesh melting off his bones. But, he'd also dreamed of Ace surviving… and somehow those hurt worse than the ones where he'd died.

Every time he woke up, he woke up feeling more hollow than he had the day before and in dire need of a glass of water to sooth the burning in his throat. Each time he woke up it got harder and harder to convince himself to sleep, leading to long nights of staring blankly at the corner where the wall met the ceiling. He caved at the offer of medication to help him sleep at night. It was the doctor's insistence that he needed it in order to heal properly because not sleeping in combination with his struggling appetite was slowing down his recovery process. Sabo had almost refused because the longer before he had to face the word outside of these hospital walls the better, but he'd accepted, and now? He had nightmares he couldn't wake up from. But, sometimes it wasn't _so_ bad. Sometimes his dreams were gracious.

Luffy always had a knack for showing up when Sabo least wanted him to. When he was at the worst of his crushing guilt and tears were spilling down his cheeks. He hated Luffy seeing him when he was at his weakest. When Sabo hadn't shown up to breakfast one day, Luffy had taken it upon himself to visit him instead, surprising Sabo because he hadn't even considered the idea that Luffy was allowed to be mobile by then. He'd caught Sabo as he lay curled up in his hospital bed, shoulders quivering as he tried to shake the images seared into his minds eye. Sabo had told Luffy to go away, but he didn't. Sabo hadn't really expected him to. Luffy was never one for listening – especially when someone was hurting.

The teen started visiting Sabo multiple times a day after that, much to Law's frustration at times. But Luffy was definitely getting antsy saying in bed for several days in a row. It was a miracle that Luffy hadn't ripped out all of the wires attached to his body and sprinted down the hallway to freedom yet, but the way Luffy was left heaving for air just spanning the distance from his room to Sabo's probably had a major part in that. Law was right, Luffy needed to rest, but Luffy hated resting. Even sitting in the comfy chair in the corner while Sabo read a book was apparently more to his liking then sitting in his hospital room alone. Sabo couldn't fault him for that. Even if Sabo didn't want him to be there, having him there was admittedly better than not. It was almost comforting to hear Luffy chat his ear off even if Sabo did nothing to contribute to the conversation.

It was Friday now, though, and the splint on his left hand had finally been removed that morning. His hand, forearm, and the left side of his face were still thoroughly bound in dressings. Everything else was covered just for the sake of protecting them and the ointment that had been spread on them. Law had told him that he wouldn't have to stay in the hospital for much longer, and Sabo had trouble swallowing around the knot that had formed in his throat. That meant Ace's funeral would be soon and that it was almost time for them to be discharged and Sabo still didn't know what they'd do once they got out. He didn't want to think about it, but time was running out and they needed to come up with something quick, but just the thought of thinking about it made him nauseous.

A knock on the door roused Sabo's attention from the latest book in his lap (He'd nearly finished everything that had been given him to read already in an effort to distract himself). He fit the bookmark between the pages and looked up curiously and when the door opened, it revealed the second to last person that he'd ever expected to see standing in the doorway to his hospital room.

"Sabotage!" the brunette grinned, stepping into the room and knocking the door closed with a foot. There was a bag of doughnuts and a milkshake in his one hand and a grocery bag was hanging from his forearm.

"Kid!?" Sabo gaped, snapping the book shut and setting it aside as the mechanic approached. "What the hell? How did you get here?"

"I hitched a ride." Kid shrugged dismissively, drawing Sabo's attention to his friend's missing mechanical arm. Sabo assumed that they must have made him remove it. Kid apparently caught his gaze because he decided to explain, "I had to take it off before we left Boston because the airport's a pain in the ass. I figured they'd complain about it here, too, so I left it off. I should have thought about how much of a pain in the ass airport security would be before I decided that putting a knife in my arm was a good idea, but oh well. It's no big deal. I know how finicky the tech in these hospital rooms can get and I don't want it or my arm freaking out on us."

"Makes sense." Sabo allowed. "But I told you putting a knife in your arm was a dumb idea. Not as stupid as the flamethrower, but still a dumb idea." Sabo smirked, eyes shifting over to the bag of doughnuts and the milkshake as Kid set them down next to Sabo's book on the tray.

"Cookie dough." Kid answered Sabo's unasked question about the milkshake. "For you. The doughnuts, however, are for me because I haven't had breakfast yet." Kid smirked as he opened up the bag and reached in, taking out a simple doughnut and taking a bite. Sabo narrowed his eyes in accusation as Kid chewed and Kid laughed "Okay, okay, Jesus, you look like I kicked a puppy or something! I was kidding. They're for you, too." Kid allowed, voice muffled around a mouthful of what Sabo deduced was a blueberry doughnut.

Sabo tipped the bag over so that he couch reach inside and take a doughnut, another blueberry but the looks of it, and taking a bite before grabbing the milkshake. The doughnuts were a local favorite and Sabo was surprised to find that he couldn't remember the last time that he and his brothers had gotten some to eat for breakfast. Kid, however, had definitely not had any since he'd moved to Boston three years ago.

"So, aside from food," Kid began after a moment of silence to pull up the nearby chair and sit down so that he could eat "I also brought you some other things. I had Franky stop by the La'Roux's for me before he dropped me off here and they gave me some stuff to bring you like clothes and stuff. I've also brought some movies, but it doesn't seem like there's anything here for you to watch them on for now so they're kinda useless to you right now. They also told me to let you know that there's a lot of things they managed to salvage from the house so whenever you're ready, it's waiting there for you to claim." Kid explained, pulling a can of red bull out of the bag, fitting it between his thighs, and cracking it open so he could take a drink.

"Alright…" Sabo nodded, frowning. "Good to know…"

The two of them fell into silence and Kid's gaze wandered over the exposed bandages that he could see with a sigh as he chewed on another doughnut. "Look at us, eh? A pair of fucked up guys covered in scars." He smirked, waving his stump around a little bit. "What a pair we are." He chuckled softly.

Sabo looked down at his hands and snickered, not much mirth to it at all. "I suppose you're right…" he frowned "About a lot of things." Sabo acknowledged as he relaxed his hands again, looking up to meet Kid's gaze, "I played with the Celestial Dragons and I got burned." He should have listened. He should have let it drop. He never should have done it. _'We have to live our lives with no regrets.'_ Was something that Ace had always said and the words returned to Sabo now. Sabo was almost bitter at the reminder because the only thing that he had now were regrets.

"So." Kid interrupted Sabo's thoughts, munching on half a doughnut before continuing, "What's the plan, Sabotage?"

"Plan for what?" Sabo asked, his eyebrows knitting together as he stared at his friend.

"What are you going to be doing after this?" Kid asked.

Sabo knew that Kid couldn't possibly mean what he'd be doing after his friend inevitably left. There was only one thing that Eustass Kid could have been referencing, but Sabo refused to think about it. So he pushed it, hoping that maybe he was wrong and Kid didn't mean what he think he means "After what?"

Kid sighed, giving Sabo a pointed look and calling his bluff "You know exactly what I mean. What are you going to do when you get out of this place? What's your plan? Where are you going? You wont be holed up in this hospital room forever so you've gotta have a plan."

Sabo groaned, closing his eye and relaxing back against the hospital bed, sipping absently on his milkshake before fishing for the spoon instead and stalling for as long as he could. Kid's eyes narrowed as the silence stretched between them and Sabo sighed again after eating another bite of cookie dough, "I don't know." He admitted softly.

"You're better than this, Sabo. You've made it this far, so are you going to keep going or what?" Kid challenged.

Sabo heavily set the half empty milkshake down on the tray. "I don't even know where the fuck I'm going to go once I get out of this hospital let alone what I'm going to do about that." he snapped, his frustration boiling over, "I tried. I tried and I failed and now there's no plan. There will never _be_ another plan. I'm done. Okay? I don't know where we're going to live. I don't know how we're going to pay for what's guaranteed to be an outrageous medical bill. I don't know how I'm going to pay for Ace's funeral expenses. Do you know how expensive it is to die? Outrageously. I don't know how I'm going to do shit with my life right now let alone what I'll be doing about _them_ so I'm done. Got it?" He snapped and then sighed, shoulders slumping in defeat as he whispered "I'm just… done…"

"So you're giving up." Kid concluded, speaking aloud the very thing that Sabo had been contemplating hard since the moment he'd woken up in the hospital. "Now that they've retaliated, you're just going to duck your head down and apologize, pretending that everything you've found out and all of the hard work you've put into this is meaningless?"

Sabo scowled "Ace is dead" he snapped, "Ace is dead, I'm half blind and covered in scars, Luffy's entire future is now in question, hell my future is now in question and you're asking me if I want to keep going against the very people who did this to us? Who've made it very clear to what lengths they'll go to keep me quiet? That they wont hesitate to kill anyone who even tries to expose them?" Sabo snarled, eyes locked with Kid's the entire time. "Luffy's already lost Ace, he can't lose me like that, too." He concluded, taking a deep breath and realizing that he was shaking as frustration and anger boiled through his veins.

Kid evaluated him for a long moment, possibly debating the next words to come out of his mouth or waiting for Sabo to calm down. Or maybe it was both? "The Sabo I know doesn't give up." Kid responded, each word measured before it left his mouth. A rarity for Kid.

"Well I am," Sabo barked, "so deal with it." He picked up the milkshake once more and scooped up another mouthful and shoved it into his mouth.

"Remember back when we first met?" Kid asked, the question was rhetorical, though, and he didn't wait for Sabo's answer as Kid stared absently off to the side and continued, "The school had put you in charge of being my tutor after my grades slipped following my accident. I assume that everyone told you I was a lost cause and that it wasn't worth it." They had. "I'd already scared away three other tutors by then, but you came along and decided to do it anyway. I'm willing to bet that if it didn't work out with you the school would have given up on me, too." Kid mused and then he smiled, eyes flicking back to Sabo's for a moment, "I told you to scram because I didn't need some scrawny fuckin' freshman showing me pity and I was damn sure I didn't want the help because…" he looked away again, eyes roaming over the medical equipment to his right, "I'd given up on me, too…"

"You baffled me." Kid continued. "I wasn't going to do any of the work regardless and I never showed up to any of our sessions at the school, but you were one stubborn son of a bitch," His lips quirked into a quick smirk. "You sought me out whenever I actually showed up to school and you even sought me out when I didn't show up to school. You were a huge fuckin pain in my ass you know?" Kid chuckled, glancing back at Sabo again "I almost felt bad for you… Almost." He winked and then turned his gaze away once more as he gathered his thoughts. He continued with a scowl that contradicted the fond look in his eyes as he admitted, "You were just doing your job, but I treated you like shit.

"Black then I didn't have a plan. I didn't see a future. I didn't see a point. I didn't see a way out of the drowning mess that I was in." Kid looked at Sabo again "I was lost, but in the end you set me straight and I'm not letting you fall down the same path that I did back then, y'hear me? So no matter what you end up doing, you better come up with a plan. You better think long and hard about this because avoiding the problem isn't going to get you anywhere fast but down. You taught me that you lose one hundred percent of the battles you never fight, and so I fought," Kid smirked again "And I've got a badass robot arm to prove it. So now it's time for you to fight, too, and maybe you'll have something to show for it in the end."

Sabo sighed and closed his eye, letting Kid's words soak in and thinking back to those days during his freshman year of high school. After months of trying in vain to help Kid, but just watching the older teen deteriorate before his eyes was painful. Even if he didn't know the guy personally Sabo had been put in charge of his success and he was watching him fail. Sabo almost felt responsible for it, he started to take Kid's failure as his own failure and tried to do everything that he could do to make sure that Kid succeeded.

On one of the countless days that Kid had skipped school, Sabo had gone directly to his house to drop off the materials like he'd done countless times before, but there was hardly anything routine about that day. When Sabo had arrived, he'd knocked on the door but no one answered. It was nothing new. Kid never answered the door for Sabo. So Sabo tested the lock. It surprised Sabo by actually opening that time, the door having been unlocked for once. Sabo didn't have to climb through a window to get in this time as he'd done many times before.

Sabo ventured inside and looked around, finding it odd that Kid was nowhere to be seen in the dump that the house where he lived alone was becoming. That is… until he found the older teen passed out on his living room floor. Sabo had run in and quickly checked his pulse. It was faint, so Sabo's fished for Kid's phone and emergency dialed 9-1-1 and explained the situation. Kid was rushed to the hospital in an ambulance and Sabo was left behind to find his own way there.

News on Kid's condition was a long time coming, but Sabo waited there at the hospital until they gave it to him. They couldn't spare Sabo the details, but they'd told him Kid had overdosed and that Kid would have died if Sabo had showed up just five minutes later.

Sabo visited Kid in the hospital after school every day after that because no one else would. Kid hated him at first so he never stayed for very long. He'd hated Sabo for saving him, but that hatred eventually evolved into confusion about why Sabo cared about some stranger, and a pathetic one at that, like Kid. But eventually Kid came to admit that he was grateful in some small way for Sabo saving him.

It was in that hospital room that Sabo'd managed to drag all of Kid's hopes and dreams from before his accident back out into the open. All of the things that Kid had planned on doing that he felt were completely lost to him now that he'd lost his arm. The reasons why he'd given up on life now that he believed the future he always wanted was outside of his reach. It made Sabo realize that even a bad-mouthed, rebellious, punk-looking guy could have dreams of his own, too.

It was that talk that changed everything between them. Changed everything for Kid. Recovery was slow going, but the revitalization of his dream slowly turned his life back around starting with a crowd funding campaign, turned a new arm, turned a science project, turned a trip to the Washington D.C. science fair, turned sponsors to further his work, turned a full-ride scholarship to MIT.

Sabo knew exactly where Kid was going with his previous monologue about how they'd met, but Sabo had already decided that he wasn't going to pursue it anymore. He didn't want to put anyone else in danger. He couldn't. Not now that he knew just how much was on the line.

It looked like Kid was about to say something, perhaps having guessed Sabo's reluctance, but there was a knock that interrupted him before he could speak and drew both of their eyes to the door.

When nothing happened at first, Sabo looked to Kid who gestured like he didn't care before Sabo let out a tentative "You can come in?"

The door swung open to reveal a tall woman with straight, long, black hair that Sabo didn't recognize standing in the doorway. Sabo did, however, recognize Tashigi peeking in from behind her. It was good to see that nothing drastic has happened to her, but where was that police captain? And why had it taken a week for them to return rather than a day?

"Hello." The olive-skinned woman greeted, eyes wandering over both Sabo and Kid, evaluating them each in turn. "My name is Robin and I'm here to speak with Sabo Mongas." She announced as her gaze settled onto Sabo, the silent command that Kid should leave highlighting her words.

"You've come to the right place." Sabo responded, glancing at Kid, who was looking back at Sabo with slight concern. It seemed he'd picked up on the message as well. Sabo shook his head slightly and then looked back at Robin.

Robin strode across the room, an air of power about her as she approached, "Who's your friend?" She asked, looking between them again.

"Eustass Kid." Sabo supplied. "He knows everything, so…"

A hint of familiarity about the name flashed through Robin's gaze but was gone as soon as it appeared. "So you'd like him to stay." She finished for him.

Sabo was a little baffled but nodded anyway "Yeah, I'd like him to stick around."

"Very well, I'll allow it." Robin crossed her arms over his midsection and paused for a moment before revealing, "I am a member of the FBI and I have a particular interest in your situation as well as the situation of Miss Tashigi and what I assume is that of many others who have come into conflict with a… particular company."

"So I've learned." Sabo confirmed.

Robin hummed thoughtfully in response and the room fell into silence. Sabo didn't dare disturb her thoughts, but Kid fidgeted in his chair, the silence obviously making him uncomfortable. He never did will with silence, always blasting music in the background and he always had the hum of machinery to keep him constant company.

Shifting her weight onto one foot, Robin broke the silence "I'd understand if you'd be unwilling to part with the information that you have gathered, but it is of the upmost importance that you show me what you have so that I may better understand what it is that we are up against. I wont ask you to part with it, but I will request that you divulge whatever information it is that you have that apparently landed you in this… mess." She proposed.

Sabo frowned, turning his gaze away from Robin and staring down at the blanket covering his legs in consideration. He reached out and grabbed his milkshake and used the straw to slurp it up because the drink had long since turned to liquid. As he did so he caught Kid staring at him and Sabo remembered the talk that they'd been having just before Robin interrupted.

Maybe instead of giving up there was a chance that Sabo could just turn the responsibility over to someone else. Maybe he could just turn it all over and never have to think about it again? Maybe this was his way out? But things were never that easy…

Sabo's eyes drifted over to his messenger bag in the corner as he picked up the spoon and fished for the last of the cookie dough chunks in the bottom. Rather than picking any of them up, however, he just moved them around as he frowned in thought. She seemed trustworthy enough. After all, Smoker and Tashigi seemed to have gone to great lengths for her to be here. Maybe that's why it had taken so long? Sabo couldn't help but notice that it seemed like neither Robin nor Tashigi were supposed to be here again because they'd arrived out of uniform and without or any form of official identification.

The sound of footsteps roused Sabo's attention and he looked up, noticing Robin making her way around the hospital bed and to the chair in the corner where his messenger bag sat. Sabo's frown deepened as she picked it up and turned to look at him. His eyes narrowed at her, flicking between her face and his bag. That was his stuff, damn it.

"As I thought." She cryptically concluded, the right corner of her lips quirking up as she approached the bed once more and placed the bag down softly by Sabo's thigh. "There. Now, I assume, you'll be of a bit more help."

Sabo looked between the bag and her another time before glancing at Kid. Sabo let out a long sigh and then looking back at Robin, "Fine," He allowed. He was willing to trust her so he reached for the bag and opened it up, taking a peak inside. He was relieved to find that his notepad was still in there, but he hoped that no one had gone through it before brining it to the hospital. Makino and Shanks hadn't mentioned anything about it when they'd visit so there was a chance they hadn't. He put his thumb to the edge of the notepad and skimmed through the pages once before looking back up at Robin. "Here." He held the notepad out to her "It's not the whole story, but you'll get the gist of it based on what I've noted here. I hope you understand my reluctance to talk." He'd tell her the story himself, but he was almost surprised by his own paranoia that Celestial's ears might be literally everywhere. That just saying their name might invoke their presence in the hospital room. He wasn't about to take any risks.

Robin moved to take the notepad, but Sabo didn't let go, making eye contact with her as he demanded, "this doesn't leave the room." He didn't want it leaving his sight for even a second. He needed to be sure that eyes that shouldn't be looking at those pages weren't looking at it and he couldn't definitively keep track of that if he couldn't see it.

"Fair enough." Robin acknowledged. "I understand that a notepad like this is not something that someone would want to leave their sight." She nodded respectfully as Sabo released it into her grasp. "If you don't mind, I'll just take a seat here, then, while I read." She said as he gracefully lowered herself into the comfy chair in the corner and began to quietly leaf through the pages.

Sabo looked to Kid and the older male scrunched his nose. He looked like he was itching to say something to break the silence that had draped itself over the hospital room, but he didn't, which was surprising. Sabo had to admit that it was definitely a very awkward silence and it took a lot for Sabo to admit that a silence was awkward. Luckily, Robin was a fast reader and it only took an eternity of ten minutes to leaf through all of Sabo's notes a few times, asking questions from time to time in order to get more information about particular events. Sabo liked to link that how well his notes were organized and structured helped with that. Sabo prided himself in his note taking skills.

"This code in the back…" Robin eventually spoke up, tapping the page in question with the back of a finger. "Mind if I take a picture of it so that I may solve it for you real quick?" She asked, looking up at Sabo.

Sabo opened his mouth to respond, but hesitated. He was shocked. He never even considered that he would ever meet someone who could crack a code as jumbled as the one in that notebook was. Sabo couldn't make heads or tails of it and the fact hat Robin had glanced at it and was confident enough that she could solve it, and quickly at that, was mind blowing to him. "I uh. Yeah. Got for it. If you can crack it than that's far more than I can do with it." Sabo consented before he'd even considered what the implications of giving her that permission had.

Robin pulled her phone from her pocket to take a picture of the black of characters scribbled down in Sabo's notes and said "I wont be long. I just need to figure out the key and hope that what you've written is accurate." She got up out of the chair, approached the bed, and held out the worn notepad out to Sabo with a smile "Sorry to have intruded in on your business, but this is of utmost importance, I fear. I'll have you know that this notepad will eventually need to be confiscated, but you can keep it with you for now." She allowed, circling back around the bed and heading for the door. She paused, hand on the door handle, and looked over her shoulder at Sabo "I'm deeply sorry for your loss." She offered as she pulled open the door and concluding, "I'll be back within the hour."

The door clicked shut and Kid turned back to Sabo with narrowed eyes "The fuck was that about a coded message?"

Sabo pulled his gaze back to his friend with a soft exhale before admitting "I suppose I should fill you in on everything that's happened with this since I left Boston…"

"Damn straight you better." Kid confirmed.

Sabo rolled his eyes with a small smile before he began to explain. He told him about his account being deleted and his confrontation with Lucci, he told him about Jason and Marshall Teach, he told him about the Blackbeard event and his attempt at getting all of his research out there to the public, and then he finished it off by saying "two days later…" Sabo gestured to himself and his surroundings with a hopeless shrug "Well… you know the rest."

"And _you_ want to give up." Kid reconfirmed.

Sabo sighed, dropping his head back against the mattress, a little frustrated at how the conversation had come back full circle once more. He didn't want to really talk about this again, but he knew Kid wouldn't let the matter rest so he confirmed "Yeah… I suppose so."

"Then why did you let her read the notes? Why are you letting her decipher the code? If you've really given up then there wouldn't really be a point to any of that, would there?" Kid pointed out. "If you've given up you would have said no and made her walk away."

Sabo remained silent, looking back down that the notepad in his hands. Kid was absolutely right and Sabo knew it. If he'd really wanted to let this go he would have said that everything had been lost in the fire. He'd never have even considered hinting at let along revealing where it was like he had done. If he'd really wanted to stop he'd have had someone get rid of it all by now. He wouldn't be clinging so tightly to something so dangerous.

With a frown, Sabo opened up the notepad and skimmed through the pages. They knew everything. They knew it was him and if he passed on his notes and went completely hands off they'd still know that it was him. It was his research. It was his prying. It was him that they were afraid of. He couldn't help feeling a spark of pride at that thought. He'd made them so desperate that they'd lashed out and tried desperately to get rid of all the evidence and Sabo survived…. but at what cost? Ace was dead instead of him. Should he really walk away from them and let a price that steep be in vain?

It was a dishonor to Ace's sacrifice to let this go so easily. "I have to keep fighting." Sabo decided, closing the notepad. "Ace would want me to keep fighting."

"That's the spirit." Kid grinned.

There was a knock on the door and it opened without pause, drawing Sabo's gaze back to it once more. Robin was standing there in the doorway, looking very thoughtfully perplexed despite her mostly stoic expression. A glance at the clock made Sabo wonder when Robin had left so that he knew how long Robin had been out. There was no way she'd taken more than thirty minutes, though.

Robin approached them, the door closing behind her. She folded her arms over her midsection with a frown, giving Sabo and evaluating stare. "Unless you have a way into Celestial and someone who's good with computers than your trail is as good as dead." Robin finally revealed, unfolding one arm to hand Sabo a napkin and then refolding her arm across her midsection.

Upon the napkin was a written a message. The first thing that Sabo noticed about said message was that the majority of it was still an unintelligible scrawl of beautifully written characters across the surface of the napkin. It was a second before his eyes finally drifted towards the top of the text and saw that there were words, too. _'I know how to get you what you need.'_ Sabo's eyes went wide and he looked up at Robin once more before looking back over the rest of the note. The mass of incoherent letters, numbers, and symbols still listed on the napkin were a password and that password was the key to finding everything that he needed in order to expose Celestial for what they truly were, but only if he knew a good enough hacker that could break into the system remotely. Sabo was completely out of luck there. The brief moment of elation that he'd felt at having the key in his hands vanished in that instant. It was impossible. Like Robin had said, he was out of luck.

Kid cleared his throat "I might know someone." He offered and Sabo's head snapped up, looking at Kid in surprise.

"You do?" Sabo asked.

"Apoo." Kid elaborated.

The information hit Sabo like a train. Of _course_. Kid had mentioned that Apoo was into these things when he'd first arrived in Boston. Sabo's mind had tossed it out as useless information then but now… Sabo paused his thoughts before he could get carried away to ask "But why would he help us?"

"He owes me a few favors, remember?" Kid reminded him. No, Sabo had not remembered but now that Kid mentioned it, he did faintly recall two potential instances of that being the case.

"But how can him owing you favors convince him to even come close to agreeing to do something so potentially dangerous?" Sabo countered, narrowed his eyes. He became painfully aware in that moment that someone associated with the federal government in the room with them and he glanced over at Robin wearily.

"That still doesn't help you get in close enough even if he did." Robin reminded them. So she didn't even care. She must really be invested in fighting Celestial, too.

Getting in closer, though… Sabo frowned and fiddled with his notepad. The corners of his lips tugging downwards harder and harder with each passing second of silence that stretched between them. Sabo had a way to get in close, but… Sabo chewed on his lower lip and turned his gaze towards Kid.

Kid scowled back him, shaking his head before Sabo even opened his mouth to speak and when he did, Kid immediately cut him off with a "No."

"But…"

"No." Kid snapped. He knew exactly what Sabo was planning to suggest.

Sabo's lips pressed into a fine line. It was a long shot, Sabo knew that but they were out of options. Kid might argue that they hadn't even considered any options yet but this was the only way that Sabo could think of. The only way that could possibly work. He looked at Robin, who was looking between them curiously.

"I… may have a way in." Sabo admitted, voice barely even coming out as a whisper. He couldn't even believe that he was about to suggest something like this so easily. After deciding that there was no way that he could ever leave Luffy on his own after this… how could he come to the conclusion that leaving was the only way so quickly?

"Oh?" Robin cooed, one arm pulling away from her midsection so that her hand could prop up her chin.

"Sabo don't do it." Kid pleaded "I know I said you should see this through, but…" He stopped, scowling slightly.

Sabo shook his head "I have to." He whispered, fiddling with the pages of his notes and taking a deep, shaky breath.

"Sabo…" Kid warned.

Sabo ignored him in favor of continuing, looking back to Robin and revealing, "my birth name is… Sabo… Outlook the Fourth…" The name tasted like vomit and sawdust in his mouth. Admitting it out loud for the first time since he'd left that hell ten years ago. He felt strongly compelled to brush his teeth now that he'd said it.

"Ahh… I see…" Robin mused, a look of newfound understanding on her face. "So you think that you might be able to get in close enough if you just throw around your name?" she speculated.

Sabo pursed his lips "It's a shot in the dark, but it's the best option that I've got."

"It's the fuckin' worst option that you've got." Kid countered "You're fucking miserable when you're with those pieces of shit that gave birth to you. I punched that fucker in the face for a reason, damn it, and it wasn't for you to just go back again."

"But people's lives are at stake." Sabo reminded him.

"And so is _yours_ " Kid stressed "I know It's shitty of me, but the life of someone I know vs. the lives of people I don't are more important. They know you're his son and they know you're the one that's done all the digging. What makes you think that they'll even let you in close? That they won't be watching your every move like a fucking hawk? You'll be miserable every second of every day and what makes you think they'll even let you go when it's all said and done? How do you expect to get back out of there again, huh?"

"He's got a point." Robin agreed.

Sabo sighed, hunching over and staring down at the foot of the bed. He was right, but there had to be a way. Maybe the key was in the fact that they'd be watching him so closely they wouldn't even think to watch for anyone else? There was no telling what might happen unless he gave it a shot. "If we formulate a plan, we might still be able to make it work. Flying by the seat of our pants wont be getting us anywhere, but if anything I will be able to survey the situation from the inside and relay information back to you guys. I'm sure that if we just work to get all of the pieces in place than we can make this work. I'm resourceful. I can figure it out. If Outlook contacts me about going back than I'll accept and we better have some sort of a plan by then."

"And you're confident that they'll reach out to you?" Robin asked.

"There's a good chance they will. They reached out as a warning before. They might do it again." He confirmed.

"I don't like it." Kid frowned.

"It's our only option now." Sabo reminded him.

"Then where do we start?" Robin smiled.

Vrvrvrvrvrvr

Robin proved herself to be far more resourceful than Sabo was. He definitely admired her intelligence and quiet calculations. She was a little morbid, though, and it definitely didn't help quell his fear and apprehension towards the potential of going back to his own personal hell. It was also rather unnerving at how quickly and efficiently she could poke holes into any plan that Sabo could come up with, playing devil's advocate at every turn and forcing Sabo to consider possibilities that he'd never even thought to consider and making him think about the potential that things could go horribly wrong. Sabo appreciated it, but it was frustrating. Sabo did learn, however, that Robin's network was vast and she had a number of strings of her own that she could pull.

A knock on the door silenced their quiet conversation and they both turned to look. Robin shifted in the chair next to his bed, crossing one leg over the other as Sabo called out "You can come it."

The door opened to reveal Kid standing there. He'd left somewhere near the beginning of Robin and Sabo's discussion, having been too angry about Sabo's decision to contribute anything worthwhile to begin with. He'd walked off to hopefully cool down and Sabo had no idea where the man had gone, but it had been almost two hours since then. "It's lunch and Luffy wants to know if you're planning on coming over or if he's going to have to invade your room himself." Kid asked, staying in the doorway.

His friend's narrowed eyes told Sabo that Kid was still angry with him for deciding that he should go back should his 'father' show up and demand he would. The whole plan hinged on the idea that he would and Sabo had no doubt that it would happen, especially considering how desperate he was to get him back when they last talked. "Um…" Sabo began, but was interrupted.

"Well, then, I think it's time that I take my leave." Robin declared, standing

"But we haven't even…" Sabo was cut off.

"We've done enough talking for today, so we can leave the rest of it for another time. I have some things that I've got to take care of and some people I need to contact." Robin finalized, straightening out her clothes before looking down at Sabo. "Don't forget to talk to your brother about my request."

"I'll ask him at lunch." Sabo assured her.

"Very well." Robin nodded. "I'll see you again sometime soon." She finalized, striding towards the door, pausing for Kid to let her through, and then disappearing out into the hallway.

Sabo let out a deep breath and closed his eyes for a second to relax.

"You coming?" Kid asked.

"Yeah, I'll be right over." Sabo confirmed.

"Good because that doctor of Luffy's gets on my nerves." Kid grimaced.

"Oh god, the three of you were in a room together? How did that much ego fit into that small of a space without the universe imploding?" Sabo deadpanned.

"Oh, shut up." Kid retaliated, but then asked, "Do you need help or do you got it?"

"I got it." Sabo assured him, sliding his legs over the side of the hospital bed and then easing himself onto his feet. Out of habit, he double-checked that there were no longer any important wires connected to him and once he was satisfied that he wouldn't accidentally tug on anything important, he started for the door. He poked around one of the bandages on his left arm as it began to itch in the hopes that maybe it would stop itching without actually touching anywhere near it. No such luck. He was just going to have to suffer, apparently.

Kid walked ahead on him to Luffy's room, holding the door open for Sabo to enter in ahead, "You kids have fun. I've gotta go and get settled at the hotel now that it's about noon. I'll see you guys later, alright?" Kid announced once Sabo stepped inside.

"Bye, Eust!" Luffy waved.

"See ya, Kid." Sabo nodded to him, stepping over to his usual spot to sit and eat. The nurse on duty was already there and setting out their meals for them.

"Later, losers." Kid finalized, letting the door close behind him. The nurse departed soon after and left the two brothers on their own with their meals.

Taking a bite of his meal, Sabo remembered the gathering that Nami was putting together and wondered if that was going to be soon since Kid and Franky were here now. There was a good chance that it would probably be either that night or on Saturday. His thoughts drifted their way back to his conversation with Robin and he frowned.

"Whatchya thinkin' 'bout?" Luffy asked, shoving a forkful of food into his mouth.

Sabo froze, his own fork pausing halfway towards his mouth. He was going to have to tell Luffy, wasn't he? He'd decided that their plan involved Sabo going back to his 'father' and now he had to break that news to Luffy. Should he even tell him right now? Should he wait? Or had Luffy already figured it out for himself? Sabo fished shoving his forkful into his mouth and chewed in order to give himself some more time to think. He was going to have to tell him. He had to. Luffy deserved to know. "I just… didn't expect Kid to show up like that, " were the words that left his mouth instead and his mentally cursed himself.

"If you found out that _he_ was in the hospital, would you go to Boston to see him?" Luffy asked simply while mid-chew. To him it was unquestionable. Sabo knew that Luffy would move mountains if he had to in order to see a friend who was in need and it was obvious that his crew felt the same. Sabo wished he could see things in such a black and white manner like Luffy did. Things either were or they weren't there was no in between with Luffy.

"Of course I would." Sabo agreed, even thought Luffy knew the answer already. Sabo took another bite of his meal.

Luffy shrugged and then declared. "We should get a dog."

Sabo blinked, the sudden shift of conversation taking him aback.

"Yeah. Bepo is great so we should get a dog, too. Please, please, please, _please_ we have to!" Luffy started begging.

"We don't even have a house right now, we can't get a dog." Sabo scolded him.

"Awwww! But I really want a dog! They're so fluffy and fun to play with. I've always wanted a dog." Luffy pouted. "I always like it when Bepo comes to visit. Oh! Did you know that he's actually Law's dog? He brings him to the hospital everyday and Bepo just wanders around to hang out with patients. Isn't that cool? I bet a lot of people appreciate his visits."

Before Sabo could affirm that, Luffy was off on another tangent again "Oh! This morning…" Luffy paused to shovel food into his mouth while Sabo continued to listen. "The kids from the elementary school soccer team visited with their substitute coach last night before practice." Luffy frowned and set his fork down for a moment as he whispered, "They asked me when I'd be back again…"

Sabo paused briefly mid-chew as he listened.

"I didn't want to lie to them, but at the same time I don't know what's going to happen…" Luffy sighed before resuming his meal.

"Maybe you can still coach?" Sabo tentatively offered.

"Yeah, but… what good is coaching if I can't show them how to do the things? I can't explain things very well, so showing them is the easiest for me, y'know? I grew up doing and learning from watching other kids play street soccer back when we were still living in the _flavala._ " Luffy explained, shoveling more food into his mouth again.

"It's frustrating being so weak and I'm tired of sitting around. I wanna go places but just walking to your room gets me out of breath. Law says that there's a chance that my lungs may heal enough that I might be able to do the things that I used to do again, but it's not very likely. But! There's still a chance! And I'm tough, so I know that I'm gonna get better!" Luffy decided. "Some stupid smoke isn't going to keep me from doing something like climbing the stairs for forever. I'm gonna be able to run again one day, just you wait!" He declared, shaking his fist at the ceiling. Luffy's passionate declaration left him a bit winded afterwards, but Luffy resumed eating with a determined set to his eyes that made Sabo smile.

"So what about you?" Luffy asked around his next mouthful.

"Hm?" Sabo hummed, considering what Luffy might mean by that question.

Luffy swallowed and speared another morsel of food with his fork as he elaborated "I'm gonna keep fighting to do what I wanna do even though it seems hopeless right now, so are you gonna keep fighting, too?"

Even after all this time, Luffy still managed to surprise Sabo with the things that he knew sometimes and Sabo's smile widened a little more. "Yeah," he confirmed, "I'm gonna keep fighting. That's what Ace would want me to do."

Luffy gave a single, hard, enthusiastic nod in confirmation. "Good. I wasn't going to let you leave if you did it because you hated yourself, so if you're gonna go because you have to fight then I wont stop you." He grinned before picking up his empty plate and literally licking it clean.

"What about you?" Sabo asked.

Luffy set the place down before responding, "I'll manage." He smiled at Sabo in an attempt to reassure him, but Sabo wasn't convinced. Even if he'd figured out what to do with the Celestial business, he was still utterly lost on what to do about everything else and that reality was smacking him in the face again.

"Are you gonna finish that?" Luffy asked, eyeballing Sabo's plate.

"Don't you even dare think about touch it," Sabo scowled, pulled his plate away from Luffy slightly as continuing to eat. It wasn't the best meal around, but it wasn't as bad as school food at least. "Oh." Sabo grunted as he recalled that he was supposed to ask Luffy about something.

"Hm?" Luffy hummed, urging him to continue, but eyes still locked on Sabo's plate.

"I just remembered." Sabo began as he continued to eat "I don't know if Kid told you, but a woman named Robin came in to talk to me today. She wants to help me out with this whole business and she decided that she wanted to take a look around One Piece to see first hand what's going on. She'd like to meet with Blackbeard if she can get the chance to and was wondering if you'd be willing to let her join your crew."

"Oh. Yeah. Sure. Of course. That makes sense." Luffy nodded, "I don't see why not." He shrugged. He paused for a moment and then frowned, "But I wont be able to play…" he remembered.

"We'll figure something out." Sabo assured him.

"Yeah, but… but if you win… then… what happens to One Piece?" Luffy wondered, "Will it be gone?"

Sabo considered that, chewing his last bite thoughtfully. "Maybe," he speculated, "But we won't know that for sure. There's a chance it will, though."

Luffy sat up straight, eyes wide with panic, "But it can't!"

"If that's what it comes down to in the fallout than there's nothing that we can do about it." Sabo reminded him. "If One Piece gets shut down then it gets shut down."

"But it _CAN'T_." Luffy insisted.

"Why not?" Sabo asked, fed up with Luffy's insistence without supplying any sort of explanation. If he was going to sympathize with Luffy than he needed a reason for why he was panicking.

"Because… because…" Luffy chewed on his lower lip as he hesitated, glancing around the room before his voice lowered and he whispered "Because then what will happen to… to… Zoro's dad and everyone else? Like Vivi? If One Piece goes away than they'll die. Book will die. He can't die, He's my friend."

"Wh-what do you mean Brook will die?" Sabo's eyes narrowed as he sat up straighter, his attention completely grabbed.

"Brook. He's…" Luffy frowned, folding his arms over his lap as he hesitated. "He's an A.I…"

* * *

A/N: And that's a wrap!

Thank you all for the follows, favorites, and reviews! They mean a lot to me.

There's only four weeks left in the semester and I've got final projects up to my nose to do, so I'll do what I can to get the next chapter out to you guys without forcing you to wait too long for it. I'll do my best! No guarantees on a time frame, though.

I'm so excited that Robin's finally in the story! My favorite One Piece lady has finally arrived~

Next Chapter: Things start slowly falling into place.

To be continued...


	18. Ch 18: Disaster Prt 4

A/N: HAPPY NEW YEARS. I finally have a new Chapter for you! (And it's the longest one too date xD) I'm sorry for the ridiculously long wait that you guys had to endure. I wasn't able to find the time to even touch this fic after I'd posted the last chapter thanks to finals so I wasn't able to start work until after break had started.

I have a couple of announcements for you guys before we get started.

First, I was fleshing out the rest of the plot points for the fic and discovered that two of the chapters have now turned themselves into arcs, so there are more chapters left than I had previously calculated. I haven't broken these new developments into chapters yet, so I won't even bother to give you an estimate on how many chapters left that puts us at. I just know that it's several more than however many left we would have had left otherwise.

Second, Welcome to everyone who found this fic through my comic, it's good to have you along for the ride! I know that some of you who have been around for a while now have expressed a desire to see my comic once it was finished. So, check out my side blog on tumblr: **dragon6125-arts** . The names are changed because it was a class project and it's an abridged version of what happened here in the fic, so the events are slightly different due to time constraints and it's not the best, but I'm still pretty proud of it because I'd never done something like it before.

Anywho, without further ado, let's get this party started:

* * *

 **Chapter Eighteen**

Sabo's mind was still reeling long after his lunch with Luffy. He'd returned his to room probably hours ago and he was still struggling to come to grips with the fact that Brook was an AI. But It wasn't _just_ that Brook was an AI that had undone him, but the collective realization that, should One Piece get shut down, all of the people who had been turned into AI would die a second death… and he hadn't even considered them. Sabo had unconsciously tossed aside the lives of an untold number of people just because he was more concerned about himself and his own selfish ambitions than he was about them.

It made sense to Sabo why he hadn't cared, but that didn't mean it hadn't come as a shock to him once the subconscious action had been pointed out to him. He remembered back to his college freshman English class in which the entire course was centered around a single book about Justice and what the right thing to do was. It was all subjective and as painful and frustrating as every single discussion in that class had been, he'd held on to a lot of things that had been argued passionately between the more vocal members of the class like himself. He remembered how uncomfortable some of the students in class had been with being asked, when faced with a losing situation in which someone had to die, who would they choose? Who had to die to save someone else's life? There was the classic example of the runaway rail car on the tracks with broken breaks. There was a junction ahead where you knew to the left there were five construction workers working on the railway and on the right there was only one. Would you have the rail car go left or right? What if there was a child walking the tracks in one direction and a car (with the adult driver trapped inside) stalled on the tracks in the other? Who would you sacrifice? It was no wonder so many student had gotten upset.

When dealing with the situation at hand, Sabo determined that he had to start asking himself questions. The first question that Sabo had to ask himself was this: Are the AI people? It could be argued in either direction, but the basic fact of the situation was that they were not. They were lines of code tucked away within a massive program. They no longer had bodies to call their own and were stranded within a virtual world controlled by Celestial. But, what makes a human? Is it the body or the soul? Could a computer program have a soul? When Sabo entered the virtual world did he lose his humanity? What was the difference? What about Brook? Did Brook have a soul? Brook had a greater lust for life than anyone else that Sabo had encountered in his life. He was full of joy and happiness, excited to have friends, happy to share a meal with them, he was just so happy to be _alive_. Those were his words, not Sabo's. So was Brook human? Brook was unbound by Celestial, so what made him different? How was he able to join Luffy's crew? Why did he have a cursor, a system menu, and everything else normally only possessed by a player despite the fact that he was an AI?

Sabo reached out and tugged his messenger bag, which was still sitting on his bed from Robin's visit, closer. He paused as he stared at the numerous buttons pinned to the front of the bag. He thumbed one of the larger ones, a reference to one of his favorite video games, and smiled sadly at the memory attached to it. Ace had gotten it for him for his birthday years ago. Sabo hadn't expected to get anything for his birthday and he'd never asked for anything because he knew that they couldn't afford it back then. They'd only know each other for a year and they were all many years too young to get jobs. Sabo's later found out that Ace and Luffy had scavenged for loose change on the streets and had even swiped some from a fountain in order to buy him a couple of cheap buttons anyway. It was the first time in his life that Sabo'd ever gotten something so meaningful for his birthday and Sabo hated to admit that he'd cried when they'd given them to him. The memory made Sabo ask himself: did memories define a person? If Brook had all his memories of his time when he was alive, was that what made him human, too? Sabo popped open the bag and reached in for his notepad and pen, turning to an empty page and jotting down some of his thoughts.

If Brook was Human, then what drew the line between an AI who was human and one who was not? The most obvious distinction would have to be whether or not the AI originated from a person or not. A regular NPC, for instance, would not be considered human. They were completely designed and coded from scratch for a specific purpose. Every single thought, action, and motivation they had were coded into them from the beginning in order to achieve a specific purpose. But, what about the complex AI that were at the center of this entire mess that Sabo had found himself in? Were _they_ human?

There were two distinctions that Sabo could make between the types of complex AI that Sabo had encountered thus far. There were those that were self-aware and those that were not. Jason Liebrecht, also known as Lucci, was one such AI, as were Marshall Teach and Brook. All three of them were AI that were aware of what they were and who they used to be. They had every right to be considered human. They had their own thoughts, acted of their own accord, and possessed their own memories. They were never, to an extent, created by the system; they were human to begin with. They were human consciousness trapped within a game, so did they have a right to live? Would it be right to condemn these people to a second death if Celestial is forced to pull the plug?

And that question right there was at the heart of what this mental map was all about. It was the question that troubled Sabo the most about his realization that Brook was an AI. He had been willing to turn a blind eye to these AI, who were very much still people, without a second thought and now that he had found that he personally knew and had interacted with one of these AI without even realizing the truth, he was facing the reality of the situation. Did these AI deserve a chance to keep living?

If it were possible, the most ideal situation would be one where Celestial was ruined, and One Piece remained. It was, admittedly, for more selfish reasons. One Piece was far too important to him and to many other people for it to be destroyed. The best case scenario would be one where some other group of people took over to keep it running, free of a corrupt organization that was killing people for it's own gains. But how could Sabo manage to do _that_?

What if it were decided that One Piece had to go no matter what? What would be the backup plan? Would they be able to save the AI, or would the AI be doomed to die their second death? Would the AI even _want_ to be saved in the first place? What if these self-aware AI didn't want to live? What if they'd rather be deleted alongside the rest of the code? Should they give them all a choice? What if they choose to die?

Alternatively, what if One Piece remained? Should they still consider extracting the intelligent AI? Would Sabo even be able to figure out how many AI within One piece were actually self-aware? Sabo had no idea what Brook's circumstances were and, therefore, had no idea how to accurately deduce how many people were actually affected by all of this. If they decided to extract the AI, would it even be possible? Was it feasible for them to pull out such a complex piece of data from the game without things being lost in transition?

These were all things that Sabo needed to consider when moving forward. It was a whole lot to take in and was something that he'd definitely have to stew on for a while longer. There were just so many variables that had to be taken into account for this thing that Sabo didn't even know where to begin, but it was something that _had_ to be sorted out. It wasn't something that he was supposed to challenge by himself, either. It wasn't his decision alone. He needed other people's opinions in order to properly determine what the right course of action would be when the time came.

Resigning himself to that decision, Sabo let his thoughts stray away from grappling with the issue. He mused quietly to himself that maybe if he hadn't decided to go into journalism he might have very well taken up political science instead. Or, maybe, he could have double majored in it if he could have afforded the money and time away from work to do it.

Sabo let his notepad fall into his lap and rested his pen in the crease of the book that contained it. He ran his fingers through the short strands of hair on the right side of his forehead with a sigh. He wondered absently just how long it would take him to grow his hair back out again and if it would be enough to cover up the scar destined to mar his face for the rest of his life.

A soft knock on the door pulled Sabo out of his thoughts and announced the arrival of Law as the doctor stepped into the room without waiting for consent. "Have something for you." Law explained as he approached, fabric in his hands.

"Are those the…?" Sabo drifted off, trying to find words for them.

"Pressure garments. Yeah. Both you and your brother's came in today so its time to get you into them." Law explained. "These are to manage scaring and to further ensure the maintaining of range of motion as your burns heal." Law refreshed Sabo's memory and then smirked, "It's also time to change your bandages, of course."

"I have a feeling that you get far too much enjoyment out of this." Sabo grimaced.

Law shrugged, but the smirk never left his face as he dropped the fabrics onto the bed next to Sabo's leg. He picked up Sabo's right arm and began to tug away at the bandages, "It's not as bad as it used to be, though, right?"

Sabo had to give him that. It no longer felt like the bandages were ripping the raw flesh from his body with every tug and the scrubbing and cleaning was no longer as necessary or intense. It still hurt a little bit, but nothing too uncomfortable.

"Your burns have been healing very nicely," Law commented, turning Sabo's right hand this way and that as he examined the places on his arm where nasty looking open wounds used to be. Law applied medicine to the dark red-brown scars and then covered them with fresh bandages. Law then picked up what was essentially a cloth gauntlet and slipped it over Sabo's hand and forearm, tightening it and using the Velcro to close it off. He then moved on to the burns on the left side of Sabo's body, repeating the same process of changing his bandages. Once that was done, he fit Sabo into a tight fitting shirt with one long sleeve for the left arm and a fingerless glove for his hand. From there, Law moved on to his face, repeating the process of changing the bandages there once more before slipping something over his head that wrapped around the upper half of his face like a ninja mask with an eye patch. He was immediately self-conscious about it, hoping that his hair might grow back immediately in order to hide it. Sabo frowned but then caught a glimpse of one of the white patches on Law's face and he relaxed a little bit, feeling an odd sense of ease at the sight.

"These stay on at all times," Law instructed, breaking Sabo out of his thoughts. "You only take them off to shower and then you put on the second set I'll be giving you just like we put these so that you can wash the first ones. You'll only have to wear them for a couple weeks once you leave the hospital." Law explained to Sabo as he threw away the old bandages and washed his hands. "Now get up, we've got places to be."

"Like where?" Sabo asked, attempting to furrow his eyebrows but finding that difficult to do with the band covering his forehead.

"The party." Law explained as he dried his hands.

"That's tonight?" Sabo asked, mildly surprised.

Law hummed in confirmation "Yeah, so c'mon. Get up and put some pants on." He insisted, heading for the door and gesturing to the bag of clothes that had been left for him by Makino earlier in the week. "I'm going go and get Luffy ready. Meet us next door." Law instructed before opening the door and stepping back outside.

Sabo hummed thoughtfully, pausing for a moment before easing himself to his feet. He stepped over to the bag of clothing and sifted his way through its contents to pick out a pair of jeans and a t-shirt with the emblem of one of his favorite games emblazoned across the chest and slipped them on. He toed his feet into the slippers next to his bed and then shuffled his way to the door, trying to get used to how stiff his upper body felt now that it was bound in pressure garments. They were surprisingly comfortable and easy to get used to.

When Sabo entered the hallway, he found that the door to Luffy's room was still open. That was good for Sabo because he was pretty sure that he couldn't open any doors with the bulk on his hands right now.

A peak inside the room revealed Law trying to get Luffy situated into a wheelchair. Key word: trying. Luffy was having none of it if his all-out protests were anything to go by.

"We're going somewhere too far for you to walk yet so you're going to have to sit your ass down in the fucking wheelchair," Law argued.

"But I don't _want_ to! How am I supposed to get better if I don't walk the distance? I can do it! I promise!" Luffy whined as he tried to stand back up out of the chair. A small smile formed on Sabo's lips at the sight.

"I'm your doctor and as your doctor, my answer is no. You can't. Recovery isn't something you can force, god damn it. Give yourself time to heal and sit in the fucking chair." Law snapped back, shoving Luffy back down into the wheelchair and dropping Luffy's portable oxygen tank into his lap to hold him down.

" _Oww_. You're such a mean doctor." Luffy pouted, wrapping his arms around the humming box that was providing him his oxygen.

"I'm not here to coddle you." Law scowled.

" _Surgeon of Death_." Luffy mocked, lower lip sticking out and Sabo had to stop himself from bursting into laughter.

"Calling me by my epithet isn't an insult." Law sighed, circling around to push Luffy's wheelchair away from the bed.

"Surgeon of _Life_." Luffy amended childishly, his pout deepening further. Sabo couldn't stop himself any longer and he barked out a quick laugh before falling into breathless chuckles at his brother's antics, shoulders shaking with silent laughter.

His brother's attention snapped towards him and Luffy's frown immediately morphed into a grin as he spied Sabo in the doorway. "Sabo! Law said we're going on an adventure. Are you coming, too, then?"

"I am," Sabo confirmed, still smiling. Luffy stared at Sabo's face and Sabo felt his smile start to strain under the scrutiny.

Luffy's grin, however, only widened as he exclaimed "You look like a pirate, now! That's so cool! You've got an eye patch! I wish _I_ had an eye patch!"

Sabo huffed out a laugh, smile softening as he shook his head, Luffy always seemed to know what to say, "You do know that pirates only wore eye patches to preserve night vision, right? They weren't actually half blind like me."

"So, what! An eye patch is an eye patch!" he dismissed with a hand motion. "You look cool." Luffy grinned.

"Thanks, Luff." Sabo chuckled.

Law whistled softly and an excited huff and the clicking of claws drew Sabo's attention to the fluffy white dog that'd gone unnoticed by Sabo until that moment. "C'mon boy." Law beckoned. Bepo _boof_ 'd and padded towards them, circling around Law and the wheelchair excitedly. Law waved Sabo over, pushing Luffy's wheelchair ahead of him and offering Sabo the opportunity to push Luffy. Sabo accepted without hesitation, stepping behind Luffy and resting his hands on the handles of the wheelchair as Law walked ahead, Bepo at his heel, and Sabo began to follow.

"So where are we going?" Luffy asked, peering up at Sabo "Do you know?"

"No idea." Sabo half shrugged with his right shoulder. It wasn't a lie, he really had no idea where they were going, but he did know what they'd be attending.

Luffy filled the time with useless chatter as Law and Bepo led them across the hospital, up a couple floors in the elevators, and then down another few hallways to what looked like a bunch of offices and meeting rooms.

"Are you sure we're in the right place, Law?" Luffy asked, looking around at the doctors passing them by curiously.

"Yup. It's just at the end of the hall." Law confirmed.

"If you say so…" Luffy trusted, kicking his feet slightly between the two footrests.

Sabo smiled softly before he reached out with his hands and covered Luffy's eyes, bringing them to a stop as Law rested his hand on the doorknob.

"Sabo! I can't see!" Luffy complained, reaching up with his hands in an effort to gently peel Sabo's hands away from his face, conscious of the burns underneath the layers of fabric.

"That's the point." Sabo laughed as Law's hand came to rest on the doorknob.

"But I want to see." Luffy complained. Law knocked on the door twice before he slowly opened it and peaked inside.

"Just wait. You'll see soon enough." Sabo assured him, using his hips to push the wheelchair forward and keeping his hands over Luffy's eyes as he smiled at the small gathering of people inside. Bepo bounded inside excitedly.

The room consisted of a long meeting table surrounded by chairs and not a whole lot else. On one side of the table, there was an eclectic collection of two-liter bottles of soda and a pile of plates, napkins, and plastic utensils next to a stack of plastic cups. There was a glaring lack of the promised food, however, and judging by the frozen looks on everyone's faces they must have caught them off guard.

Nami's frazzled and angry expression caught Sabo's attention as she stood by the cups and plates, almost glaring at Law for bringing them now of all times. Law tapped the watch on his wrist at her and she narrowed her eyes before throwing her arms into the air in defeat and turning to the collection of people behind her and holding up three fingers as Bepo circled her legs.

"What's going on? Can I see yet?" Luffy asked, reaching up with his hands again in an attempt to pull Sabo's arms away.

Nami turned back to Sabo and locked eyes with him as she lowered one of her fingers. Sabo nodded in understanding and prepared to let his hands me moved away from Luffy's eyes.

"Are we there? Why haven't you uncovered my eyes yet?" Luffy continued. Nami lowered another finger and Sabo could feet as the air in the room shifted as everyone collectively inhaled.

Zero.

Sabo pulled his hands away from Luffy's eyes as the group yelled, "Surprise!" Bepo barked excitedly at the sudden commotion and ran back to Luffy in his wheelchair and then bounded back again across the room to sniff at everyone before running back again and jumping around Sabo and Luffy.

Luffy's jaw dropped as he stared at the group of people standing in the room before him. Sabo could get a pretty good idea of who was who at first glance. Zoro was standing in the back left corner with, who Sabo assumed was, Usopp. Zoro was holding a cup of soda in his hands (and judging by the fact that the Coke was the only on that was open then Sabo assumed that's what he was drinking). Kid was standing next to a man who had to have been Franky because he was the oldest person in the room and he was pouring himself a cup of Coke as well. Franky was a lot… smaller than Sabo had anticipated. Muscular, yes, but after being used to seeing the big burly cyborg in-game, the thin muscular stature of the man standing there in a Hawaiian shirt now came as a bit of a shock to Sabo. The lack of his signature electric blue pompadour was also a bit of a shock; Sabo didn't take Franky for a dirty blonde. Sabo didn't see Sanji or Chopper anywhere, though, and Brook being absent was a given. But there were still two other people present in the room besides Nami that Sabo didn't recognize. One of them was wearing a Starbucks uniform and the other was in scrubs. Maybe Law knew them, then.

"You guys!" Luffy squealed, leaping out of his wheelchair as soon as he got his wits back about him. Law scrambled to grab Luffy's oxygen tank and follow after him with a scowl. Luffy made to start wrapping everyone in hugs before recalling the state of his chest. He settled for grabbing Zoro by the arms and shaking him vigorously as he grinned and clapped him on the shoulders excitedly "Hi Zoro! I can't believe you're here! And you have rainbow hair! That's so weird! I kinda like it!"

"I didn't ask for it." Zoro scowled.

But Luffy had moved on to give Usopp the same treatment as he exclaimed, "It's so good to actually get to meet all of you guys. Oh my god. Hi Usopp! You're hair is so poofy! Why don't you have hair like this in-game!?" he gave Usopp one final clap on the shoulder and not enough time to respond before he was jumping his way over to Franky, followed by an exasperated Law. His breath was starting to come in short gasps now and Sabo began to grow concerned.

Before Luffy got the chance to give Franky the same treatment that he gave Zoro and Usopp, Law shoved the oxygen tank into Luffy's arms with an annoyed growl "I'm not carrying that around for you, damn it. Take care of your own shit."

"Oh, right. I forgot about this." Luffy happily shifted his grip on the box and grabbed it by the handle with one hand and letting it dangle by his side before he reached out with his one free hand to pat Franky on the arm vigorously "Franky! You look so weird! Hi! You're actually wearing pants!" Luffy laughed breathlessly before listing slightly, "Oh, boy. I think I need to sit down." Luffy swayed on his feet a little and both Kid and Franky reached out to steady him as Luffy deposited the oxygen tank on the table and leaned against it. Luffy waved off their hands "I'm fine." He adjusted the breathing tube on his nose and took a few deep breaths, gaze falling on the two Sabo didn't know. "Pen-guy and Whale head! C'mere!" Luffy huffed, waving them over as he sniffed. "So you guys work here, too?" So they were Heart Pirates, then.

"I work at the campus Starbucks down the street, actually." The one in uniform corrected. "Ben is an intern, though." He informed Luffy, gesturing to the man in scrubs next to him, "and 'm Scotch." He smiled, reaching out to shake Luffy's hand.

Luffy shook his hand very enthusiastically before doing the same to Scotch with a wide grin before turning his attention towards Nami. "Was this all you?" he asked breathlessly as Bepo nosed his leg. Luffy reached down and pet Bepo's head fondly for a moment.

"Yup!" Nami winked. "They all wanted to come out and see you when we heard the news."

Bepo returned to making his rounds, making a stop by Law and the two Heart Pirates again before moving on to Usopp, who greeted him enthusiastically.

Nami scowled then "But Sanji's not here yet and he's supposed to be catering. And Chopper isn't here, yet, either. He was having a hard time convincing his guardian to let him fly out to Texas to meet his Internet friends. He finally convinced them, but he's not here yet… I hope he's okay."

"I'm sure he's fine! And, wait, so Sanji's catering?" Luffy echoed, surprised. His face melted into another grin "That's awesome! Ace says that he rea—" Luffy's smile dropped for a blink-and-you'll-miss-it moment before returning in full force. Sabo could still see the hint of pain in his eyes, however. "I'm really looking forward to trying his real food, then."

Sabo was too, but Sabo was concerned about Luffy now. He frowned, chewing on his lip slightly as he remained standing off to the side by the closed doorway. Luffy's slip definitely hadn't gone unnoticed by everyone else in the room, either. Everyone's expressions had settled on a scale of concerned to nervous from person to person.

"C'mon guys! This is a party! Let's have fun! I wanna know all about you guys." Luffy chuckled, seemed to finally have gotten his breath back as he spit out several sentences within a single breath "Where are you guys from? What do you do? I can't believe you're all here! Sit down! Sit down everyone and someone get my a water because I'm _exhausted_." Luffy huffed, plopping down in the nearest chair at the table and hugging the portable oxygen tank, resting his chin on top of the humming box and panting slightly.

Sabo relaxed after a moment, the tension disappearing as fast as it had appeared, but the feeling still lingered in the pit of his gut. There was a gentle touch on his left arm and Sabo turned his attention to the person standing there. It took him a moment to register just who was standing there next to him. It was the last person he expected to find visiting him in a Texas hospital with her shoulder-length, ginger hair, dark-blue eyes, and a light smattering of freckles across her cheeks. She greeted him with a sly smile and said "Hey, Dragon-boy."

Sabo recoiled, eye going wide as he opening gaped at her, "K-Koala!?" he stammered, he had million questions on the tip of his tongue, all of them trying to come out at once "W-how. Who? I. What? I-is that _really_ you?"

Koala put a hand to her mouth as she laughed, punching him in the hip with her free hand "Yeah, it's me, dumbass."

"Oh my god," was all that Sabo could say in response. He was at a complete loss for words as he rubbed his chest with one hand "How… how did you…?"

A look of understanding crossed her gaze, "Nami told me. We went to Skypeia with her, remember? We became friends in-game so she was able to message me about what happened and about meeting up with everyone irl," She explained before frowning slightly "I'm sorry that things happened this way, you tried so hard…" she reached out a hand and touched her fingers lightly to his elbow, eyes dropping to the floor.

"You have no blame in what happened." Sabo assured her quietly, careful to make sure no one else in the room heard this part of their conversation "I'm not giving up yet. All that hard work won't be in vain, so I'm gonna keep trying to expose them for what happened. I just should have known better than tried to go through the News Coo with this."

A deep voice cut into the conversation then "I wanted to talk to you about that, by the way…" Zoro spoke quietly, joining them against the wall by the door.

Sabo turned his gaze towards the swordsman with a curious noise, knowing that he couldn't quirk his eyebrow as a prompt like he usually would with the mask covering the area around his eyes like that.

"I don't do this often, okay? But I just wanted to say thank you… for doing all of that. All of this. You… you didn't have to. You could have just heard my story and moved on with your life, but you're doing so much more instead. I wish there was a way that I could help, so just kick their asses for me, okay? And if you need a sword or three, just give me a call. They can't be allowed to get away with all of the things that they did."

"I appreciate the offer, but I don't want to drag anyone else into this." Sabo politely declined "And I'd prefer not to resort to violence. That could land us in jail before anyone even considers confronting Celestial and what they've done if we do that."

"The offer still stands." Zoro smirks.

A memory resurfaced from his last visit to Celestial and Sabo joked "Then be ready to fly out to Boston at a moment's notice in order to fight a sword-wielding robot trained by your dad."

"Wait. Really?" Zoro asked, eyebrows practically shooting up to his hairline.

"No." Sabo laughed, shaking his head. "Well. There is a sword-wielding robot, yes, but I wasn't serious about fighting it." Sabo waved his hand dismissively. "That'd be a little ridiculous – not to mention dangerous."

The door abruptly swung open, nearly smashing into the wall if it weren't for the rubber doorstop to soften to impact of the doorknob. The room's attention simultaneously turned towards the old man standing in the doorway, tugging a food cart behind him. He gave everyone in the room an scowling once over as he pulled the cart into the room, yelling something angry and possibly very insulting in French over his shoulder before looking back at the group. Sabo wasn't aware that French could sound that coarse and intimidating.

The crowd began to stir at that as people resumed standing, sitting, and every motion in between. Luffy gazed excitedly at all of the covered food presented on the cart. Luffy looked back at the blonde old man with a gloriously braided mustache and exclaimed "Sanji! You made it! But… you're a lot older than I expected." Luffy hummed, looking the older man up and down.

"That's my old geezer, you dumbass!" A lightly accented voice from the hallway corrected, but no one came into view. That must have actually been Sanji. Why was he hiding?

"Don't go mistaking me for that pipsqueak, ya damn brat. My name's Zeff. I'm his father." The older man growled, heavy French accent making the coarse statement almost amusing if the look in Zeff's eyes hadn't been so intimidating. "I'm the Head Chef of the Baratie, the best god damn restraint on the South Carolina coast." Zeff boasted angrily before shouting over his shoulder in French again.

There was an exasperated, angry, French retaliation before the voice quieted down to a whisper and carried a hushed conversation with someone out in the hallway.

Zoro crossed his arms over his chest, leaning away from Sabo to look out into the hallway as he called out "Hey, shit cook, are you a wuss, or something? Are your eyebrows actually so hideously curly that you don't want to show them to us in person?"

"What was that, Mass Head!?" Sanji practically screeched back. "Chopper. Get me inside so I can run that bastard over myself."

"I like this kid." Zeff gestured to Zoro.

"Chopper?" Usopp inquired, standing up out of his chair.

Run him over? Sabo wondered absently.

"Listen here, you piece of shit, I ain't scared of what any of you think of me." Sanji denied as he appeared in the doorway being pushed in a wheelchair by a scrawny, curly-haired teenager. Sanji was pointing a shaking hand in Zoro's direction as he sneered, "Least of all a shithead like you, moss for brains." He took a deep breath, letting his hand drop back down to the armrest of the wheelchair. His eyes flickered around the room then, suddenly alarmed at what he'd just done, taking in everyone's first impressions of him with a twinge of tight nervousness in his posture that contradicted everything that he'd just said about not caring.

Sanji did not look healthy, that was obvious from the moment he first entered the room. He was thin and almost looked frail. His legs didn't seem as though they'd supported his weight for very long in years. There were bags under his eyes like he hadn't been sleeping well recently and his hair was disheveled, like he'd been running his hands through it for hours. "I need a cigarette." Sanji sighed, relaxing in his chair and running a hand through his hair once more, proving Sabo's assessment.

"Smoking is bad for you, especially considering your condition, don't you know? You shouldn't be smoking like that." The teenager, who must have been Chopper, scolded. His voice had a strange lit to it, a very bright sound with a flat tone. It took about two seconds for his brain to place it: Minnesota.

"I'll be dead long before smoking'll destroy my lungs." Sanji grumbled under his breath so quietly that Sabo would have missed it if he hadn't been standing nearby. It didn't help that the straw hats had all burst into noisy activity and greetings at the same moment Sanji spoke.

"Chopper's here, too!" Luffy exclaimed, grinning.

"Chopper! I didn't think you'd be coming!" Nami squealed, opening up her arms and gesturing for him to come closer.

"It's so good to see you, Chopper!" Usopp agreed, bouncing up as well.

Chopper grinned and did a bit of a wiggle behind Sanji's wheelchair before he pushed Sanji's wheelchair closer to the table and then launched himself into a hug with Nami and Usopp.

"You're so tall!" Usopp exclaimed. "I thought you'd be shorter." Tall was a loose term, the boy hardly came up to Usopp's chin and at least an inch of that height was in curls.

The old chef began to set trays of food out on the table, Scotch and then Franky quickly lending their help.

"So how did you manage to get here? "Nami asked, pulling away Chopper.

Luffy stood and grabbed at Chopper's shoulders to give him the same treatment that he'd given everyone else. "Ahhhh! I can't believe you came all the way out here to see me. I can't believe any of you came." Luffy declared, turning towards Sanji.

Sanji and Zoro were still locked in a glaring contest, engaged in a heated argument. "Look, I don't want any of your damn pity, jackass." Sanji snarled.

"I'm not pitying you." Zoro scowled.

"Yeah fucking right you aren't." Sanji hissed.

"Excuse me, Zoro." Luffy interrupted, pushing between them and then leaning down to give Sanji a hug around the shoulders. "I'm glad you made it and I'm happy you made food for everyone." He exclaimed excitedly as he pulled away with a grin and bounced in place a little before quickly tiring out and slumping against the table again with a frustrated huff.

Sabo felt Koala lean closer so that he could hear her over the commotion as she said, "I don't know any of these people aside from Nami."

"Yeah, sorry about that. I should have invited you to Thriller Bark." Sabo apologized.

Koala punched him in the kidney and growled as Sabo nursed his side with a painful hiss, "Damn right you should have." Koala snapped "I will never forgive you for forgetting me like that, you bastard. I completely missed the Thriller Bark event."

"Ouch! Why the hell did you _punch_ me!? You're lucky that was my right side, but _still_ the _kidney_?" Sabo complained through gritted teeth as the pain slowly worked its way through his system.

"Oh my god, I'm so sorry. Are you okay? I shouldn't have punched you that hard when you're in the hospital. Shit. I forgot that you're actually a wimpy nerd, too. Oh my god, are you okay? I suppose it's good that we're already in the hospital, yeah?" Koala panicked, reaching out with her fingers before retracting them again as if she might hurt him just by touching him now. Which hurt his manly pride just a little.

"You punch _hard_. Do you _actually_ do martial arts?" Sabo asked, stunned, trying to get her to stop being apologetic.

"Yeah. My family owns a dojo and I've been in karate since I was a toddler." Koala explained with concern still in her eyes.

"That makes sense." Sabo realized. "Skills like that transfer pretty well into the virtual world. The whole fishman karate thing. I get it now." Sabo exhaled as the pain ebbed away and he straightened.

"So you good now?" Koala asked, looking him over again, eyes drifting from his eyes to his shoulders and then down to his hands.

"Yeah. I'm fine now." Sabo assured her.

"C'mon! Let's eat! I'm starving!" Luffy announced as Zeff moved the food cart out of the way and opened the table up to them, revealing that it was already completely set, all that was left was for everyone to pour themselves a drink an start digging in.

"Nami get's first dibs so sit your ass back down, Shitty Captain, I don't care if you're in the hospital. Everyone else has got to eat and no one will get a bite if you start us off." Sanji scolded as Zeff repositioned his wheel chair at the table for him and set down a cup of soda with a bendy straw in it for him. Sanji smiled in Nami's direction and made a sweeping gesture to the food on the table "After you, my dear. Take your pick."

Nami checked her phone with a frown before shrugging "I guess we can eat now, our announcement is just going to have to wait." She sighed in resignation "I won't hold you guys up." She said, taking a seat and then reaching out to grab utensils and pile food within reach onto her plate. It looked like seafood, much like what Sanji had made in-game.

Sabo noticed Franky mouthing a question to her as she loaded up her plate and Nami nodded, eyes flickering over to Sabo for a split second as she did so and Sabo had to wonder what was that all about. What was it that they wanted to announce and what did it have to do with him?

Koala voiced the very same question to him from her spot standing next to him as they watched people line up to pour themselves drinks.

"Your guess is as good as mine," Sabo confessed as Kid joined the two of them by the wall, holding a plastic cup of what was probably root beer.

"Who's the girl?" Kid asked. Sabo anticipated an elbow nudge at the question but it never came.

"The name's Koala Fisher, NikonFlash in game. Sabo's partner in crime for the News Coo." She introduced. She aborted a half-formed attempted to offer a handshake to the one-armed man who's one hand was currently occupied with his drink.

"Ahh, so you're the photographer that he mentioned. I'm Eustass Kid, the man with the unfortunate burden of being this nerd's best friend." Kid smirked.

"Is that why you ran off to Boston and left me behind?" Sabo asked, mock betrayal in his voice as he pouted dramatically. He put a hand to his chest as though offended as he said "Boston, _one of the iconic cities of the American Revolutionary Era,_ and you _didn't take me with you."_ Kid rolled his eyes and just laughed. Both of them knew that Sabo would have rather died than leave his brothers behind in Texas like that.

"You've seen enough of Boston. We all know Philadelphia is your first love." Kid smirked.

Sabo sighed dreamily "Tis true, my Dear Eustass. One day I will follow my heart's yearnings to the great city of Philadelphia to let my love-sick eyes wander across the sights of such a historical landmark of the Revolution." he proclaimed dramatically, sweeping his hand in front of him as if he were imagining he city before him right then.

"Dork." Koala snorted.

"Oh, but of the most revolutionary kind," Sabo said with a half-smile. He would have winked if he had both eyes.

"Nah, he's definitely descended to a whole new level below dorkism," Kid corrected.

"Whatever. You can debate how much of a dork I am later. I'm starving" Sabo dismissed "So c'mon let's all get some seats. Can someone grab me a drink?" Sabo asked, claiming the chair immediately to Luffy's left and sitting, tugging the plate and utensils closer to himself.

"I got ya, Sabotage, what do you want?" Kid asked, going to top off his root beer.

"He'll have a water," Law responded, placing a cup of water on the table in front of him and another in front of Luffy, both complete with bendy straws.

"I'll have a Mountain Dew." Luffy protested, looking at the water as if it personally offended him.

"No!" The Straw Hats all denied simultaneously.

"The last thing you need is caffeine!" Sanji added.

Sabo let out an undignified snort before laughing. He turned to his left, laughter still in his voice as he said "Damn, even his crew ge—" he stopped, eyes not finding who he was expecting to find sitting next to him and he sat confused for a moment, smile frozen in a half-formed state. Koala stared back at him, looking just as mildly confused as he was. She tilted her head to the side questioningly.

Sabo swallowed hard around the knot forming in his throat as he realized why he'd been caught off guard. It was Ace. He'd been expecting to see Ace. Even though he knew, he still… he'd subconsciously expected Ace to be sitting there. Sabo felt as though he'd just been dumped into a vat of ice-cold water and he fought to choke down the tears starting to burn in his eyes as he tore his gaze away from Koala and stared down at the empty plate in front of him. The people continued on around him, completely unaware of the dagger that had just stabbed itself into Sabo's chest. They laughed and ate while Sabo struggled to breathe, drowning in the cold water that seemed to have flooded his senses now. Sabo should have been able to hold himself together. He shouldn't be losing it like this so easily. What was wrong with him? Why did it have to hurt so much?

"Sabo." Koala touched his shoulder gently.

Sabo looked at her and saw that startled look in her eyes like maybe she'd done something wrong. Sabo shook his head and opened his mouth to speak, to explain to Koala that it wasn't her fault, but nothing came out. Koala immediately stood, grabbed Sabo by the arms, dragged him to his feet, and pushed him out the door.

"I'm so sorry." Sabo choked out as she released him in the hallway, door closing again behind her. "You didn't need to do that, I'll be fine." Contrary to his words, he sniffed, tears threatening to spill over any second now.

"I know, but I panicked. You looked like you were falling apart and I wasn't sure if you wanted to do that in front of everyone. I do realize that I had no authority to make that decision for you, but… I couldn't just sit by." Koala explained, eyes full of concern.

Sabo shook his head, chewing on his lower lip and tears began to spill from his eyes. "No, it's fine. It's just…" The words caught in Sabo's throat and he paused, clearing his throat and swallowing before confessing, "It's hard… Ace being… gone. We were practically attached at the hip, even when we went to parties. We spent so much time together that I just… when I turned to say something… I expected Ace to be sitting there next to me as always, but he wasn't there and I just…" Sabo sniffed, gaze dropping to the floor as he shook his head. "I knew he was gone and I still… I was caught off guard… I can't believe I just… god, I'm so pathetic." Sabo stumbled, burying his face in his hands.

"Sabo?" Luffy's voice called out from behind him, the door clicking shut once more.

"Don't worry about me, go have fun with your friends," Sabo said, not turning around to look at him, but failing to keep the quiver out of his voice that would give him away.

Hands wrapped carefully around his wrists and pulled his hands away from his face, bringing Luffy's tearful gaze into view. "Not without you." Luffy refused, pulling Sabo's arms to bring him closer before wrapping Sabo up in a careful hug. "I miss Ace, too." Luffy whispered, sniffing before nuzzling his face deeper into Sabo's chest and tightening his hug. "I look for him all the time and he's not there anymore and it _hurts_."

"Luffy, your burn—" Sabo tried to put distance between then but Luffy only tightened his arms around him.

"I'm fine. It doesn't hurt very much." Luffy assured him "So just let me hug you."

Sabo relaxed, resting his cheek against Luffy's wild nest of raven hair and hugged him back. He wasn't sure how long they spent standing out there in the hallway like that even after the tears had finally stopped, Sabo's fingers playing with the hair at Luffy's neck. Sabo was pretty sure that Luffy was on the verge of falling asleep where they stood. Sabo smiled before slowly disentangling himself from Luffy's grasp, patting his little brother on the back and saying "C'mon. Let's get some food before it gets cold, yeah?"

Luffy wiped is eyes off on the sleeve of his t-shirt and nodded. Sabo reached out and wiped away the residual moisture from Luffy's cheeks that his brother had missed with his bandaged hand. He gave a satisfied nod and then ushered Luffy back into the meeting room. The whole room greeted them with smiles, which caused Sabo to shift his weight uncomfortably in the doorway. Luffy grinned right back at them, accepting the tissue that Koala offered him, blowing his nose quickly, and then bounding back to his chair. Luffy reached for the nearest platter of food to start piling it onto his plate as if he hadn't just been crying out in the hallway.

Sabo had always admired that about Luffy. Luffy had always seemed to be able to bounce back from anything. His mood could shift from sad or angry to seemingly full of joy at the drop of a hat. His emotional fortitude was truly admirable and Sabo wished that he were as good at bouncing back as his brother was. He made it look so easy.

Koala held up a tissue to Sabo and Sabo accepted it, using it first to dry his eyes and then to blow his nose before throwing it into the trashcan next to the door. As Sabo made his way back to his seat with a sniff, he had to wonder just how Luffy did it. How was Luffy always able to bounce back every single time? When he looked around the table and saw all of the people laughing, talking, and eating together, Sabo felt like he could maybe understand a little bit. It wasn't that it didn't hurt, that was obvious. Luffy had just shown him that he was still just as effected by what had happened as Sabo was. It was that, despite his loss, he was still surrounded by people who loved him. They weren't Ace and they could never be Ace, but they were there for him no matter what. Luffy wasn't alone, he didn't have to fight through this by himself and he knew that. Luffy knew that deep in his chest.

By extension, then, Sabo realized that he wasn't alone either. His support group wasn't nearly as large as Luffy's was, but he'd never been one for large groups of friends. He felt Ace's loss like a giant chasm had opened itself up in his chest in his place. Ace was his first friend, his older brother, and the unwavering support standing at his back through thick and thin. Sabo felt as though he'd lost a continent in his world, but he hadn't lost everything. He still had Luffy, he still had Kid, he still had Shanks and Makino, and he still had Koala.

Sabo would do whatever it took to make sure that Luffy was never hurt and that Luffy was happy. He'd probably do anything that Luffy ever asked of him as long as it was within reason. Kid was far from being good emotional support, but Sabo somehow took comfort in that. Kid was abrasive and inconsiderate when it came to people's feelings because he didn't quite know what to do with them himself. Kid was honestly more than likely to make the situation worse than make it better if Sabo was being honest. And then Koala, even though he hadn't known her for very long, she was still like family and he trusted her. She had always been strong when he couldn't be.

There were people that Sabo could rely upon and people who would support him. He wasn't going through this alone; they'd made it obvious time and time again during his stay at the hospital. It was a hard lesson to come to grips with, but Sabo felt like he was getting it. He only hoped that he'd still be able to hold on to that when he found himself standing at the doorstep to his own personal hell.

Sabo reached out and herded his water closer to him and drank from the straw, watching the straw hats be as rambunctious as ever. It amused him endlessly that Franky was the only adult at the table, but he hardly acted like one, fitting right in with the chaos of the crew. It was still hard to picture Franky as a college professor, even harder to equate the man sitting across the table from him with the Cyborg from One Piece. There was a nudge at Sabo's leg as Sabo picked up a forkful of whatever the fuck this delicious morsel of food on his plate was and Sabo looked down. He smiled and slipped his foot out of his slipper and rubbed Bepo's side with his toes. Bepo sighed contentedly and then wiggled his way through the chairs and under the table to lie down at his feet, surprising Sabo by not begging for scraps. Sabo finished his bite and continued to pet Bepo with his foot as he ate.

A half hour passed like this, Sabo listening and watching as conversations flew around him, offering his own contributions whenever he was specifically addressed and occasionally offering his own input into the conversations without prompting. Law and Ben excused themselves at one point, having to get back to work and Bepo followed at their heels. Scotch left shortly after to get back to work as well. Sabo realized then that Zeff had gone and had probably left a really really long time ago.

Almost everyone had finished eating besides Sabo and Luffy when the knock came from the doorframe, silencing the whole room quickly as people turned to look. Sabo caught a few half-assed attempts at hiding smiles before he finally turned to see who had joined them for himself.

The man was in a business suit, one hand in his pocket and the other still raised from having knocked to get their attention. The man cleared his throat at everyone's scrutiny and apologized "Sorry I couldn't make it for dinner. I didn't want to impose too much seeing as how I don't know any of you very well."

Sabo narrowed his eyes as he tried to piece together who the hell this man was. He wasn't a Straw Hat, of course, but who else did they know? Sabo took in the blonde undercut, bright-blue eyes, and the stubble on his chin and it suddenly clicked "Fen?" Sabo asked.

The man smiled and laughed, a hint of pain in his gaze as his eyes swept over both Luffy and Sabo "Yeah, that's me. But, please, call me Marco. It's weird being called Fen outside the game."

"But the yoi?" Luffy asked, confused. "You _are_ the pineapple-guy, right?"

Marco snickered, weight shifting onto one foot lazily "That's a One Piece thing. I don't use it out here. It'd be a little obvious that I was Fen in a heartbeat if I fit yoi's into all my sentences out here, too, y'know? It throws people off my scent."

"Ooooooh. But I liked the yoi's." Luffy shrugged.

"I'm glad that you could make it, Mr. Newgate." Nami cut in as she stood, smiling.

"Please. Mr. Newgate is my father. Call me Marco."

"Very well. Marco, I think it's time that we make that important announcement now that you're here, then, if you'd like to do the honors of giving us the reason for our celebration." Nami suggested.

"Wait, so this isn't just a get-together?" Sabo asked, looking around the room.

"It started out just being a get-together, but we've got some big news for you guys as well," Nami confirmed. "I'll leave the talking to the first division commander," She relinquished, gesturing to Marco.

Marco stepped further into the room so that he could stand at the head of the table by the plates and drinks where no one was sitting. "I wanted to start off by saying that it's good to see you all, especially Sabo and Luffy. To think that all this time you brothers were practically next door in Summit City amazes me." Marco revealed, his gaze turning pained again for a moment as he pursed his lips before continuing "When Pops, er that's Whitebeard, when we heard what happened we decided that we wanted to do what we could to help. So, I set up a crowd-funding campaign. I got into contact with, I think, Shanks? And worked with him on getting the details and figuring out what kind of money we were looking at needing to raise so that we could fully set this thing up and get it out there. We spread the news by telling the whole Whitebeard crew first and things kinda took off from there."

He set up a crowd-funding campaign? Wait. Did this mean, "Did you guys…? Did you seriously…?"

Marco chuckled "It blew our minds, actually. We… we reached the goal by the end of the week." Marco confirmed with a small smile, looking back to the door and beckoning some people who were still out in the hallway to come in. "The whole community was pitching in. Not just here around Dallas or in Summit City, but the whole of One Piece's player base it seems wanted to help out. Rage/Ace or however people know him, he touched the lives of a lot of people in a lot of places. He…" Marco drifted off, not finishing his sentence and falling quiet as people began to file into the room. He didn't seem so inclined to continue talking.

Sabo's jaw dropped. He stared speechlessly as people took places along the wall. Some of them were vaguely familiar and Sabo started to wonder if maybe these were the division commanders of the Whitebeard Pirates and then Sabo saw Shanks and Makino walk in and Sabo wasn't so sure whom all was standing in the room now. There were only seven people though, Marco, Shanks, and Makino included.

Sabo was still trying to process what Marco had just told him. One of the people came to a stop next to Marco, holding up a Laptop in his arms. Sabo was one hundred percent sure that his name was Thatch. No one else on earth would have ridiculous hair like that to match the fourth division commander's pompadour.

"Are you… are you guys serious…" Sabo took in the smiles of all the people he didn't know, settling in on his neighbor's who nodded and smiled encouragingly at him. "Is this? No." Sabo's gaze snapped back to Marco "You've got to be lying." Sabo glanced over at Luffy who seemed to be just as dumbfounded as Sabo was.

"No, it's true," Marco assured him. "Let him get a better look at the page, Thatch" Marco insisted, pushing the man holding the laptop towards Sabo.

"Of course." Thatch stepped up to the table, pushed Sabo's plate aside, and then placed the laptop on the table right in front of Sabo. "Check it out, 'Bo. You've been covered."

Sabo stared open mouthed at the website. It was, in fact, a GoFundMe campaign. On the left there was the picture of him and his brothers that had shown up in the newspaper article, the one of the three of them with their arms slung around each other's shoulders and beneath that was a video followed by their story. On the right was the funding goal that comprised of a combination of medical expenses, funeral expenses, and anything extra that could be used to help them start to get back on their feet. That goal had been met—and surpassed.

"I. I don't know what to say." Sabo tangled his fingers in his hair as his shoulders sagged "I've been. I don't. I can't even begin to express my gratitude." Sabo pulled his hand away from his head. "Oh my god. You guys… none of you had to… I can't believe…" Sabo stumbled and chocked on his words as a knot began to form in his throat.

"I can't believe you guys did this for us," Luffy whispered for him.

Sabo let out a shuttering breath as tears began to sprout in his eyes for the second time in the last hour. "Is this real? Am I dreaming?" Sabo asked as he looked up and glanced around, eyes falling on the phone in Usopp's hand that had been held up and was obviously recording them.

"This is real," Koala confirmed next to him.

"Ace meant a lot to a lot of people… and we all wanted to do something to help." Marco assured him once again.

"This is real." Sabo echoed, it not really sinking in yet.

"Did you guys _all_ know?" Luffy asked, looking up and staring dazedly at his crew seated around the table. They all nodded and Sabo hiccupped, breath catching in his throat. He looked at Luffy and grinned. Luffy grinned right back at him with tears in his eyes.

"I can't believe it," Sabo said breathlessly. "They did this for us."

"They paid our bills," Luffy confirmed, his smile growing teary.

"We don't have to worry about it anymore!" Sabo exclaimed, tears beginning to fall as he raised his arms.

"We don't have to go into debt!" Luffy agreed, leaping into Sabo's outstretched arms.

"We're going to be okay!" Sabo laughed, burying his face into the crook of Luffy's neck as he clambered to share Sabo's chair with him.

"We're going to be okay!" Luffy agreed, laughing as well, legs wrapping around his waist and the back of the chair.

"This is so heart warming I can't stand it!" Franky sobbed, "It's beautiful!"

"Congratulations, guys!" Someone called out and then the whole room started offering their congratulations at once. Sabo laughed and rocked Luffy back and forth as they hugged and cried. After a moment, Luffy pulled away, extracting himself from Sabo and his chair and allowing Sabo to stand.

"Thank you so much. I can't even begin to express how much this means." Sabo said, grabbing Marco's hand and shaking it "I don't even know what to say. You didn't have to do this." Sabo grinned, finally relinquishing his hold. "Oh my god." Sabo shook his head, throat tightening even further.

"And Thatch!" Sabo exclaimed, voice cracking, "It's been so long it's so good to see you. Thank you so much." Sabo said, reaching for a handshake before the brunette grabbed him and pulled him into a hug instead.

"It has been long. We should do something as a group in One Piece again. We made a good team against Crocodile I'd like to think, yeah?" Thatch offered, pulling away from him.

"I ah. I would love to, but, uh, I don't have an account anymore. It's a long story. Sorry." Sabo apologized.

"Ahh, what'd you do that you lost your account, man!" Thatch scowled. "That's dumb. What the hell was Celestial doing blocking _your_ account of all things?"

'You have no idea' Sabo wanted to badly to say, but he kept his mouth shut. Thankfully, someone else coming up to congratulate him saved him from having to possibly elaborate. "You guys didn't have to do any of this." Sabo said again, still trying to come to grips with everything.

"That's actually not all we have to announce," Marco said smiling, pulling Sabo's attention back to him.

"Oh my god, don't tell me. I don't think my heart can take any more of this." Sabo shook his head, throat tightening even further as he put a hand to his chest to emphasize his point and drifting back over to the blonde businessman.

Marco gestured over one of the people he'd brought with him and the man made his way over. He was a portly man wearing a buttoned-up, Hawaiian shirt, cargo shorts, and sandals, and his long curly hair was pulled back into a low ponytail. "This is Jimbei." Marco introduced. That name was _very_ familiar. "He lives in the outskirts of Summit, where it starts to bleed into Dallas."

"Jimbei!" Luffy explained, grinning. "I didn't know you lived here, too! Wow! Such a small world! It's so good to see you again! I couldn't recognize you without you being a fishman!"

It finally clicked. "Jimbei! Captain of the Sun Pirates! It's been a while." Sabo smiled.

"Oh, you know Jimbei, too?" Luffy asked.

"Koala used to be a Sun Pirate," Sabo explained.

"Ooh."

"Hello, brothers." Jimbei greeted with a smile. "It's definitely very good to see you guys again and I have a proposition for you."

"Yes?" Sabo asked, wondering where this was going.

"I have some extra space and I'd be willing to take you guys in and let you stay for as long as you need to." Jimbei offered.

"Nooo, you don't have to." Sabo shook his head.

"I hold great respect for all three of you and Ace was a dear friend of mine." Jimbei persisted "It would be an honor to house the two of you. I understand that staying with the La'roux family would be too much for you and that's why I have offered up my own place."

"No. No, no, no. We wouldn't want to impose. We can't. I can't…" Sabo shook his head, feeling like his heart might explode from how full it was. "This is all too much. You guys have all already done so much I can't—"

"I can rent it out to you if that will make you feel better? It wont be for free then," Jimbei amended.

Ace's voice echoed in the back of his head, words from their fateful first meeting _'Help us with English. You get to stay. Not for free then. How that sound?'_ it was hard to believe that that already ten years ago. It felt like a lifetime. Sabo relaxed and felt himself warming up to the idea "Actually, yeah, that does help. But, still, I wouldn't want to—" Sabo began to excuse, but Jimbei clapped him on the right shoulder, effectively shutting him up.

"No. I have the space and you need a place to stay. It's not being used right now so you might as well use it until you can find a place of your own if you'd like." Jimbei offered once more. "Koala is staying in the guest room right now, but it'll be yours once she goes back to Arizona."

Sabo looked back at Koala in surprise and she mouthed 'He's my uncle' back at him. And he looked back at Jimbei in surprise. Kid came up from behind Sabo and nudged him in the side. "Just take it." Kid smiled. Sabo looked back at him and found that stupid, annoying 'I told you so' smirk on his face.

"Wait. You knew!?" Sabo accused, shoving his shoulder.

Kid laughed and shook his head "No! No, I didn't. I swear. I didn't find out until I got here, honest."

Sabo couldn't find it in himself to hold a grudge, feeling extremely forgiving in this moment. He was just too damn happy right now. "I forgive you." Sabo huffed before looking back at Jimbei "We'll accept your offer, then." Sabo agreed. "I hope we won't be too much of a burden to you." _But Jimbei will only have to take care of Luffy_ , a small voice in the back of Sabo's head whispered and his mood began to plummet. He hoped it didn't show on his face.

"I told you it would all work out." Kid reminded him with a grin.

"Yeah. I still can't believe this is happening." Sabo said breathlessly. _Be happy while you can,_ the voice of his insecurities whispered, _it won't be lasting for much longer_.

* * *

A/N: And that's a wrap!

Thank you all so much for the follows, favorites, and reviews. They all mean the world!

Also: Congratz to all you lovelies that participated in this year's NaNoWriMo, Whether you made your goals or not just attempting such an endeavor is admirable and I miss participating in it.

Next Chapter: In the eye of a hurricane, there is quiet…. for just a moment.

To be continued…


	19. Ch 19: The Plan Prt 1

A/N: I'M ALIVE. AND I'M SO SORRY. I'm just going to skip the pleasantries and let you guys get to the chapter, I'll leave everything I have to say for afterward.

* * *

 **Chapter Nineteen**

The rest of their dinner party passed in the blur of getting to know the people standing or sitting around the table in the hospital meeting room. It was interesting getting to meet old man Whitebeard himself and another of the division commanders that Marco had brought along with him. Sabo couldn't remember what his name was but he knew that he was Vista in the game. It was also cool getting the chance to actually sit around and chat with some of the people that Ace had spent so much time with in-game, getting to know a little bit about what they did outside of the game. Most of the chat centered on other things, however, as they swapped stories about One Piece, the one thing that everyone in the room shared in common. There was an obvious elephant in the room as they danced around the subject of Ace, but they never avoided it entirely. He was a thing that they specifically had in common, after all, and stories about Ace were plentiful.

People began to filter out as time went on, Law and his two crewmates the first to go so that they could get back to work. The Whitebeards were the next to go as it got late. Koala left with Jimbei, and then Makino and Shanks said their good-byes as well. Pretty soon it was just Sabo, the Straw Hats, and Kid. Sabo prompted Luffy to discuss the matter of Robin joining his crew. The question prompted surprise, suspicion, and curiosity from the crew as they asked why and what for. Sabo refused to indulge them with very much information just yet and stated that that was for Robin herself to disclose to them. All he let them know was that she was helping him and needed the crew to help her get around in the game so she could meet Blackbeard. Sabo was well aware of the fact that a few of the crewmates were completely unsatisfied with that answer, but Sabo was thankful that they let it be. It wasn't long then before the straw hats, too, had to say their good-byes and both Sabo and Luffy were led back to their hospital rooms.

Sunday arrived when Sabo was far from ready for it. Far _far_ from ready for it. A representative from the station had come in to talk to him a couple of times throughout the previous week to work out how the day would go, things like what Sabo wanted and didn't want the station to do for the funeral and what-not and now that today was the day… Sabo felt like it was just another day and that was what made his stomach churn the most. Why did it just feel like any other day? Sabo expected it to _feel_ like it was Ace's funeral, but it felt like nothing. Sabo, in general, felt like nothing. He woke up in his hospital bed that morning and just lay there, unmoving, as he stared up at the ceiling. He didn't want to get up, didn't want to move, and he didn't want the hands on the analog clock to keep ticking away the time. Every second that passed was another second closer to the inevitable moment he never thought he'd be forced to experience so soon.

Makino and Shanks picked him and Luffy up after an early breakfast and, with the hospital's permission and a wheelchair for Luffy, they left the building. They weren't fully discharged yet but were well enough to be given special permission to leave for this particular instance. They'd be discharged on Tuesday, anyway. The only reason they'd even been kept in the hospital for so long was because their house had burnt down and they needed a place to stay. It ramped up the medical bill, but the fire station was actually covering the funeral costs and all of the money that had been raised for them was going towards paying their medical bills and helping them get back on their feet.

Once they were out in the parking lot and located Shanks' car, Luffy leaped out of the wheelchair and walked a lap around the vehicle before reluctantly climbing into the backseat with a resigned huff. Sabo climbed into the backseat next to him while Shanks fit Luffy's wheelchair into the trunk before setting out. Sabo pulled his attention away from Luffy fidgeting in the seat next to him to stare wordlessly out the window, watching the scenery pass them by. There was a stifling blanket of silence covering all of them. No one said a single word for the duration of the drive, not even Luffy.

When they arrived at their destination, it was to a house that was unfamiliar to Sabo. He should have been surprised or confused by that, but Sabo discovered that he only felt empty and resigned as he mechanically climbed out of the car and set foot on the concrete of the driveway.

The house was a quaint one-story home with a small covered entryway. A curved path ran from the driveway to the front door and was lined with bushes and flowerbeds. The front door opened to reveal Koala waving to them with a gentle smile on her face. Sabo forced one onto his own lips in return and hopes it wasn't too painfully obvious that it wasn't genuine. So this was Jimbei's house then. Sabo was relieved that they hadn't gone back to the La'Roux's house to get ready. Not when it stood right next to the charred rubble of where he once lived.

Koala beckoned them inside and Sabo's feet started to move of their own accord as he followed her inside, fake smile fading from his lips. Inside the entry way, there were a few boxes stacked along the wall. Luffy and Sabo's names were scrawled along the sides of the boxed, indicating which box belonged to whom. It was apparent that the two of them were already being moved in. The transition from the hospital to Jimbei's home would be a quick and easy one. Sabo wasn't sure how he felt about that yet.

After being ushered into a bedroom in back, Sabo and Luffy were handed formal clothing to change into. Sabo hated suits. Suits reminded Sabo of his father because they were all business and appearances. Sabo had never once seen his father out of a suit. It was a correlative thing, Sabo supposed. Suits were synonymous to him with his father and therefore suits were bad and he despised them with his entire being. Sabo avoided any situation that might require one. There were just too many bad memories to associate with them for him to be comfortable with it, but now? He put on the suit without complaint. The whole process came naturally to him; even folding the tie into a fancy Eldredge knot was like second nature to him even now. It was a good thing, Sabo supposed, because he'd probably have to start getting used to wearing suits and tying ties for more than his fill soon enough.

A grunt of frustration pulled Sabo's attention away from smoothing his tie down and critiquing the lay of his suit without the aid of a mirror. He found Luffy on the other side of the bed struggling with his own tie and Sabo quirked a half smile as he exhaled fondly. He stepped over and undid the horrible knot that Luffy had twisted the fabric into before tying the tie into a classic knot with practiced ease. Sabo huffed in satisfaction when he was done and then pulled at the lapels of Luffy's coat to button it up and then step back to appraise his work. When he was sure that everything was in order, Sabo nodded and handed Luffy his shoes.

Sabo half expected Luffy to complain about the dress shoes, tug at his tie and groan about how suffocating it was, and then ask if he could wear sandals instead. But instead of all of that, Luffy just quietly thanked him for his help, stepped forward, and then rested his cheek on Sabo's chest as he wrapped him up in a loose hug. Sabo closed his eyes and let his chin drop, resting it atop Luffy's nest of black hair and wrapping his own arms loosely around Luffy's shoulders. They stood like that for a moment until Makino's voice called for them from the living room. Sabo opened his eyes and pulled away, looking down at Luffy with a smile that didn't feel too forced as he quietly suggested, "C'mon, let's go." Luffy gave a small nod of agreement, smoothing out his suit before leading the way out of the bedroom and down the hallways to the living room where they met with Koala, Makino, Shanks, and Jimbei.

"Ready?" Makino asked, a gently yet somber expression on her face as she looked the both of them over.

Sabo nodded, "Yeah, let's go."

Koala put a hand on Sabo's shoulder gently as he started for the door, a silent question in her eyes as her gaze swept over his blank expression.

"I'll be fine." Sabo tried to reassure her.

She knit her eyebrows together "I know you will be, but what about right now?"

Sabo looked away, staring out the doorway to the front yard as he considered how he felt, or at least how he'd answer her. But rather than forcing himself to dwell more on the emptiness inside of him, he brushed it all aside in favor of stating, "It's pointless to ask me if I'm fine right now."

"Fair enough. I'll… I'll see you there, okay?" Koala sighed.

Sabo hummed in acknowledgment before pulling away and following Luffy back out to the car, sliding into the seat he'd occupied on the ride over.

They arrived at the chapel that was to host the funeral about an hour early. Luffy and Sabo were left alone in the main hall while Makino and Shanks handled the logistics and made sure that everything was still in order. It gave the two of them some time to themselves before the crowds of people began to filter in. This was, after all, a very public event. The death of firefighter was something felt by the whole community.

Luffy wandered over to raid the recently set snack table while Sabo claimed a spot against the wall of the large reception hall as far away from the casket as he could stand without leaving the room. Even at this distance, his slightly blurry vision wasn't enough to obscure it from him. His vision had never been more than a slight inconvenience at times. He almost wished that it was worse as he stared blankly down the length of the aisle, watching the closed casket as if he were waiting. He felt as though the casket should be empty. Like everything was so elaborately cruel joke and Ace hadn't actually died. That he'd somehow survived the fall and hadn't broken his neck on the kitchen island, that he hadn't suffocated in the heat of the kitchen, the oxygen pulled from his lungs by the twelve hundred degrees Fahrenheit fire that had surrounded him, that he hadn't died saving him. He half-expected Ace to burst out of the casket with a smile on his face and a shout of 'Surprise' on his lips as he finished pulling the most elaborate prank of his life. But, Sabo knew that it was just a fantasy. He was gone and, as much as Sabo hated it to admit it, that was never going to change.

Over the course of the next half hour, Sabo was approached numerous times by elected officials who drones the same copy and paste condolences like a broken record, a look of pity in their eyes that Sabo despised and words of praise for his fallen brother quick to fall from their lips as if that would change anything. Sabo acknowledged each of them politely, offering only the words that were necessary to show that he was listening and to hopefully bring the conversation to a quick close. He didn't want any words of kindness being directed towards him by strangers who knew very little of Ace beyond his heroic exploits in the field. Sabo would have felt angry with them and their grieving facades, but he didn't have the energy for that right now. Anger would be a nice change from the emotionless void occupying his chest. He knew he should be feeling _something_ right now, but instead, his emotions felt more like he were drowning in molasses that rendered any of his emotions incapable of navigating or escaping.

As the honor guard took their places on either end of the flag draped casket, signaling that visitation would begin in half an hour, Sabo knew that he should at least approach it or… something, but he hesitated. Should he go now? Could he get himself to go now? Was it too late? Would it be weird with two other people standing there now? What about the people that had shown up already?

Luffy returned to his side with a plastic bottle of water in one hand and a plate of cheese and crackers in the other. He offered some to Sabo, but Sabo kindly refused. He wasn't hungry. Shocker, he knew. Luffy shrugged, whispered that it was his loss, and then tucked the bottle of water into the crook of his arm so that he could begin cramming the snacks into his mouth. He was definitely stress eating. Sabo could tell by the slight arch of his little brother's eyebrows and the tenseness of his shoulders, not to mention all of the fidgeting that he'd been doing all morning. Sabo opted out of commenting on it and, instead, glanced back at the slightly fuzzy display across the chapel. Sabo took a deep breath, closed his eyes for a moment, and then began to make his way up the aisle towards the casket.

A picture of Ace in his uniform that Sabo was pretty sure had been taken from the station's own walls rested on top of the closed casket, his spare helmet was placed (spotless save for a few dents and scratches on its surface) beside it, and two large flower arrangements had been placed on either side of the casket that had been draped with the station's personal flag. Sabo reached out with his right hand to touch the picture frame before he stopped, fingers hovering just inches away from the glass. He pulled his hand away and pressed his index finger and thumb to his lips, crossing his left arm over his chest. He stood there in silence for a moment, hand fidgeting near his mouth before he crossed both his arms over his midsection.

"Somehow… I feel like this is all a dream and I'm going to wake up in the morning and you'll still be alive, I won't be in the hospital anymore, and all of this drama will have been just my imagination, but I know that's not true…" Sabo's gaze slid away and he reached out again, touching the polished helmet that lay next to the photo, "Gosh, what are we going to do without you, ace?" Sabo asked, letting out a shuttering breath. "I feel like everything is going to fall apart now that you're gone. I'm leaving, probably, and, if you were alive, you'd probably tell at me, remind me that we're all in this together and that we're strongest when we're together, and tell me that we can find another way, but I just can't see any other way about this, Ace. If he comes I _have_ to go this time and I hope that you'll forgive me for it. I wish I didn't have to go, but." Sabo choked on a sob and it was only then that Sabo realized that he was crying. Sabo rubbed the heel of his hand into his right eye and stepped away from the casket. Not yet. Not right now. He couldn't lose it just yet. There was time enough for that later. It had been long enough that Sabo was sure he should have had it together by now, but apparently not.

For the rest of the viewing, Sabo hovered around the walls, shoving his bubbling emotions deeper and deeper into his chest so that he could survive the proceedings. He almost preferred the emptiness he felt before to the turmoil that was now boiling within his depth. He continued to politely greet everyone who greeted him. Sabo was surprised at the number of people who picked him out of the crowd thanks to the news reports despite his current haircut and pressure garment over his facial burn – or maybe it was in spite of them that they figured out it was him. There were, however, some people that Sabo was glad to have gotten to greet. There were people that Ace had saved over the years (and not always from fires), people that they'd gone to school with that Sabo had forgotten about entirely until that moment, numerous people who introduced themselves as Whitebeard pirates or their allies, and others that played One Piece and had heard the news as it spread to the game.

It was during this meet and greet that Sabo learned of the in-game memorial service that had been planned for Ace that night. Koala, who had been lingering with him ever since she'd arrived, offered to steam it to him, but Sabo knew that he'd have to think about that one for a bit longer (preferably not while in attendance of the real service). Sabo was pretty sure that he wasn't going to be going, though. One was hard enough he didn't need to attend a second one.

The proceedings themselves were surrounded by a bunch of pomp and circumstance. There was a ceremonial walk through as firefighters, dressed up in their formal uniforms, walked single file by Ace's casket, each offering a word before putting on their hats, saluting the photo, removing the hat once more, and moving on for the next person to do the same. When it was over, Sabo swallowed around the knot in his throat and took his seat at the front of the chapel, waiting for the actual service to start and hoping that people would get the hint and leave him alone for the moment. Luffy, the straw hats, Kid, and Koala joined him quietly a moment later and another dozen minutes later, other people began to take seats behind them so that things could get started. Sabo reached out and rested his hand on Luffy's knee in order to anchor himself down and just watched and listened as speaker after speaker approached the podium, thankful that he didn't have to get up and deliver a eulogy of his own. They'd asked, but Sabo had turned it down after a brief moment of thought. He wasn't about the break down in front of an entire city while on camera.

Once the last speaker concluded their speech, the bagpipes began to play. Sabo and Luffy were lead outside, following the uniformed pallbearers that had been firefighters at Ace's side. They were met by rows upon rows of uniformed men and women and a color guard of people standing with flags in hand as the pallbearers carried Ace's casket out to the waiting fire engine that had been repurposed for the event and draped in black bunting. He watched the pallbearers lift the casket up onto the bed of the fire engine and secured it to a raised platform in the middle for all the world to see.

The door of the engine opened and Sabo and Luffy were ushered inside, taking their seats and watching as people flooded out of the large chapel. Police cars and motorcycles readied to depart, crowds of people lining the street in a display that honestly left Sabo kinda speechless. He knew the procession was going to be huge, but he hadn't expected this.

The door closed and the driver of the engine turned to look at them, a somber smile on his face "You ready?" he asked.

Sabo recognized him from the numerous times he and Luffy had joined Ace for breakfast (even if it was ten at night it was still considered breakfast) at the local 24-hour diners around town with his co-workers. Sabo glanced over at Luffy and when Luffy nodded, Sabo nodded as well, looking back to the fireman to say, "we're ready."

The man nodded and then turned to face forwards once more, flipping on the engine's lights and the whole procession of emergency vehicles came to life. Bagpipes somewhere in the near distance began to play and the vehicles began to move. Sabo leaned to the side to get a good view out the windshield and stared at the stretch of people lining either side of the street. It was like this was some goddamn parade or something. The only different was that the people here were in morning, saluting the fire engine as it passed, and no one was celebrating.

Ahead of them, two fire engines were parked on either side of the road, their ladders extended so that they crossed high above the center of the road with an American flag hanging between them. The procession passed beneath them and carried on, taking them by the station at which Ace worked. The firefighters currently on duty there were standing outside and saluting them as the alarm with the building sounded in memorial. They would have passed by the house, too, but it seemed like a bad idea all things considered, so the procession continued on towards the cemetery from there.

When they arrived, they game Sabo a folded up flag once he'd stepped out of the fire engine. It was the American flag right off the back of the vehicle, folded up in the traditional triangle fashion and presented to him with both hands placing it firmly into his own. Sabo numbly pulled the flag closer to his chest and clutched it tightly as he and Luffy were led to their own seats. The station's flag was removed from Ace's casket once it was placed down and it, too, was folded up in the same ceremonial way and handed to Luffy. Tears immediately sprung from Luffy's eyes as he clutched the flag closer to his chest. Sabo reached out, wrapping an arm around Luffy's shoulders, and pulled him close, closing his eyes and willing the tears in his own eyes to stop and go away. This was harder than Sabo had anticipated it would be.

When it was all over, Sabo lingered. It was customary to play the deceased's favorite song after the ceremony and of course Ace had written down goddamn "Uptown Funk" on the form he'd filled out when he signed on. It wasn't some sweet melody or emotion song about memory, none of the classy songs Ace had grown partial to over the years despite his opposing taste in music. It was goddamn "Uptown Funk." Leave it to Ace to insist on everyone's last memory of him being _that_ song. People'd expect someone to choose a song that reminded them of something and evoked strong emotions in them, but Sabo supposed that "Uptown Funk" was exactly that, judging by the uncontrollable tears that had sprung from Sabo's eyes the moment the song had started to play.

Sabo could vividly remember all of the times he'd seen Ace dancing down the hallway between their rooms, in the kitchen when it was his turn to cook, belting out the lyrics when he was in the shower, or murmuring them to himself quietly as he did his homework with his ear buds in. Sabo could recall every single one of the infinite times that Ace had burst into his room belting out the lyric "I'm too hot! Hot Damn! Make a Dragon wanna retire, man!" pointing at Sabo with the word Dragon and a grin before dragging Sabo out of his chair and getting him to dance as well. Sabo remembered dance parties in the kitchen with the three of them while cleaning up after dinner or cleaning up the house in general. There were so many memories that Sabo had momentarily forgotten about until that first note was sung and suddenly they'd all come to live, flooding into his consciousness. It was a song that evoked memories for the three of them. It was a song that held a lot of meaning to them even if it was a silly song that no one listened to anymore because it was at least a decade old.

Sabo let out a pained laughed as he flopped down onto the ground next to where Ace would now lay for the rest of eternity. "Why am I so surprised that you had to choose that song of all songs for this." Sabo drew his knees up to his chest and wrapped his arms around them, resting his forehead on his knees.

A hand touched Sabo's shoulder and Sabo lifted his head to see Koala standing there, a concerned look in her eyes. There weren't a lot of people left in the cemetery anymore, Sabo noticed. "I don't think I'll ever be able to hear that song again without crying," Sabo remarked, resting his uninjured cheek on his knee.

"You'll be alright," Koala assured him.

"I will be… eventually." Sabo agreed.

"Sabo!" Luffy waved to him, bounding over from where he'd been standing with the Straw Hats plus, apparently, Jimbei and Marco. Luffy was carrying a bag in his hands as he approached. "I asked that someone get and bring these for us." He announced cryptically as he took a seat on Sabo's right and handed the bag over to him. It clanked suspiciously as he did so. Koala took that as her queue to give them some space and stepped away.

Sabo raised an eyebrow curiously as he accepted the bag, recognizing its contents almost immediately without even having to look. "This is so many kinds of illegal." Sabo sighed, a small smile tugging at his lips anyway.

"None of us were even teenagers yet when we did it originally." Luffy reminded him.

"And it was disgusting." Sabo reminded him.

Luffy shrugged "Just for old time's sake. Zoro got it for us. He knew which brand to get when I described what I remembered of the label. He knows a lot about alcohol apparently. Actually, I think he's a bartender." Luffy mused as Sabo opened the bag and saw the bottle of Sake instead as well as three red sake cups.

"Is he old enough to bartend?" Sabo tried to raise an eyebrow as he pulled the sake cups from the bag.

"Technically not, but he will be in a couple months. That's why Perona gets to dye his hair all the time. She found out that's what his real job was back when he was still in high school and as long and she got to dye his hair, their dad wouldn't find out." Luffy shrugged, taking two of the cups from Sabo and setting one of them down on the base of the simple headstone with Ace's name carved into it while keeping the other for himself.

Sabo let his eyes wander over the text cared onto the headstone that read 'we have to live our lives with no regrets.' Sabo chewed his lower lip and then reached back into the bag to pull out the bottle of Sake and the third cup for himself. He examined the label with mild nostalgia. They'd stolen it from Shank's booze cabinet just five months after Sabo had started living with Ace and Luffy. As far as Sabo was aware, the couple had never figured it out. Shanks and Makino weren't even married yet back then. It seemed like so long ago… Sabo's glanced over at Luffy and Luffy nodded, Sabo took that as his queue to open up the bottle.

The first cup that Sabo filled was Ace's, followed by Luffy's and then his own. He set the bottle down on the base of the headstone and turned to Luffy. "To brotherhood." He cheered, raising the cup into the air. Luffy's cup met his own and then they both leaned over to tap their cups against Ace's before raising the cups to their lips and downing the alcohol in one gulp.

"Ack." Sabo grunted, sticking out his tongue "That burns." He coughed, voice tight.

"I know the last time we said it would be the last time, but this time is definitely the last time." Luffy agreed, his face scrunched up as he smacked his lips.

Sabo closed the bottle and slipped it back into the bag, "I can second that." He the reached out and picked up Ace's cup and tipped it, pouring the clear liquid over the headstone.

"I've got a great idea." Franky cut in as he approached, snagging Sabo and Luffy's attention with his booming voice.

"Hm?" Sabo hummed curiously, setting the cup back down on the stone.

"How about we mount these cups to the headstone? We can do all three or just the one, doesn't matter." Franky suggested, Kid running up behind him with a duffle bag slung over his shoulder.

Sabo met Luffy's gaze and wasn't surprised to see the same level of excitement about the idea in his eyes. They both looked back to Franky and nodded their consent. Franky grinned "Super!" he held out his hand as Kid caught up to him and dropped the duffle bag's straps into Franky's awaiting hand. "I thought you might like the idea." He boasted, looking over to his student with a "Thanks, Eust."

Kid hummed in acknowledgment.

"I always have this bag with me." Franky explained, flopping down on the ground on the other side of the fresh dirt "Never know when I might find myself with a project in need of completing!" Franky unzipped the bag and Kid circled around to stand at Sabo's left side. Franky extracted a bottle of industrial glue from the bag and then leaned over to pick up the red sake cup. He spread the glue onto the headstone and the bottom of the cup before pushing it into the glue and twisting it a little to make sure it was secured. He then held out his hand to Sabo and Sabo transferred his sake cup into Franky's possession and the man did the same with his, and then finally with Luffy's. When he stepped back, all three cups were placed evenly across the front of Ace's headstone. They looked like they belonged there. Franky nodded in satisfaction and packed his stuff back up as the rest of the straw hats approached.

"Thanks," Sabo said, full of gratitude and looking up at Franky as the professor stood.

"It's no biggie." Franky shrugged.

"C'mon." Kid spoke up "We have a wake and a luncheon to attend. This day isn't over yet." He reminded them with a sigh, holding out his hand to help Sabo to his feet.

* * *

Sabo looked up and stared at himself in the mirror, hands fidgeting with the fabric that had once covered his arms and torso. It had already been a whole month since the fire and he'd only been out of the hospital for a week. Classes would be starting in a few days and Sabo wasn't sure he was ready to go. Luffy had technically started school three weeks ago, but that wasn't quite happening yet. He would be starting his senior year of high school until next week. Sabo wasn't even sure he was going to classes at all. His dad still hadn't shown up and he'd been forced to start considering other options for their plans, but he was coming up short. He was trying so hard to see another way around this that didn't involve him potentially getting himself jailed rather than managing to expose Celestial. It made it hard to plan anything when he was so clueless about what the future had in store for him now.

Setting the fabric in his hands down on the sink, Sabo took a deep breath and closed his eyes, stretching out his shoulder and relishing in the freedom of motion that he had. There was a slight pull around his scar tissue, but it didn't hurt anymore. He opened his eyes again and took in the gnarled, red scars that marred his arms, shoulder, and neck. He raised his right hand and ran his fingers over the one on his neck with a frown. There was one thing he had left to remove for the very last time, the garment covering the scars on his face.

Tentatively reaching up, he tugged on the fabric with his right hand. He closed his eyes and pulled the mask from his face and dropped it into the sink. He wondered if the fact that his face was scarred would keep his dad from putting him in front of the camera. Sabo started to reconsider his stance on journalism as he thought about the future he'd be forced to endure potentially being back in the limelight. Sure the reporters at these events were sharks, searching for the latest potential scandal to plaster across their tabloids to sell as many copies as possible. It wasn't real journalism, but that was beside the point.

Sabo relaxed his shoulders and his eyes slid open, looking himself in the mirror fully for the first time since the fire. He tugged at the short strands of hair on his head and wondered just how long it would take to grow it back out again. It would probably be years before the angry, ruddy-red scar around his left eye would fade into a less obvious color, but it wasn't nearly soon enough for Sabo right now.

Aside from the scar, another thing caught Sabo's attention. It was true. His left iris was now a cloudy gray that was stark in contrast with the blue-violet eye on his right. His left eye was dull. Lifeless. He experimentally raised his right hand to his right eye and covered it, plunging his world into total darkness, before removing his hand again. He really was completely blind in that eye now. He screwed himself over wit that one. It was almost three days before they'd realized that the contact had been trapped beneath his burnt, swollen eyelids. Two days too late to save it.

Sabo picked his t-shirt off the ground, a new Les Mis shirt that was in the boxes of stuff waiting for him at Jimbei's that read 'Javert has 24,601 problems and Jean Valjean is all of them', and put it on. He then gathered up the remaining pressure garments up in his arms, grabbed his glasses, and returned to his room down the hall. He's almost gone the wrong way, looking for the stairs to head up rather than a hallway to travel down. It was hard getting used to a new home. Ten-year-old habits died hard.

When he got to his room, Sabo dropped everything onto his bed except for the glasses, which he fit onto his nose. He wouldn't have to wear the pressure garments anymore and it felt weird without the lingering pressure anymore, but he was glad in the end. It did, however, mean that people could see all of his scars now.

There was a flash drive on Sabo's nightstand that Koala had left behind for him, and Sabo knew that it held the recorded footage of Ace's in-game memorial. He still couldn't bring himself to watch it, especially not after he'd heard the rumors circling around about what happened there. Something about the marines attacking it while hundreds of players attended a funeral while unarmed and now the whole community was up in arms about it and tensions were running high.

"It's just a game," the marines would say.

"But he was our friend and this was his _funeral_ he was a firefighter who _died_ ," The pirates would respond.

"But funerals are for the real world, they have no place here." The marines would argue.

Sabo imagined that it was probably going to start getting ugly, but he was staying as far away from that conflict as he could right now. It was really making him less willing to see what Koala had left him on that flash drive.

"Lunch is ready," Jimbei's voice called from down the hall.

"Yes!" Luffy's voice cheered from across the hallway.

It was weird living in a house with an adult in it, even if he himself was technically an adult now. Just, someone who was an adult-er adult than he or Ace ever were. For so long it had always been just him and his brothers. They had Makino and Shanks, but they were next door so it wasn't the same. The house was theirs to have to themselves and take care of since Garp had only ever come back every now and then. Where had he been the last several years, anyway? He'd never told them where he'd gone and he didn't even come back for Ace's funeral. Did he even know? Sabo could even get close to dating the last time that he'd seen him.

Sabo turned away from his temporary bedroom and re-entered the hallway just in time to see Luffy rushing down the hallway to the kitchen, greeting Jimbei with a cheerful hello.

Jimbei had turned out to be a really nice man. He was gentle and treated them with respect, even if he was a little loud. Luffy seemed to enjoy his company greatly and Sabo felt comfortable being in his temporary care. Sabo supposed that he should start looking into finding a new place to stay so that they wouldn't have to intrude on the polite man's hospitality for too much longer.

When Sabo joined them in the kitchen, there was a knock on the door despite the working doorbell. Sabo tensed, turning to look down the hallway to the front door. Would this be it?

"I'll get it," Jimbei announced, turning off the stove. "You two can grab your own plates." he allowed as he left the kitchen and headed for the front door.

Sabo shrunk in on himself as he slinked over to the cupboard to retrieve the plates. Was this the time? Would it be his dad coming for him? He was just started to get comfortable again and a knock on the door was all it took to rile him up. What If it was just a solicitor? Jehovah's Witness? A journalist? Anyone but his dad, _please._

"Sabo?" Jimbei called from the front door. "It's for you."

Sabo shrunk even further into himself and closed his eyes for a moment to take a long, deep breath as he squared his shoulders. He opened his eyes as he exhaled and then set the plates down on the table before walking back out into the hallway, "Yeah?"

Jimbei stepped to the side to reveal… not his dad. Sabo relaxed and let a small smile form on his lips as he asked, "What's up?"

"This is—" Jimbei started.

"I can introduce myself just fine." The man interrupted in a nasally voice that Sabo immediately hated. Sabo's smile dropped, taking in the man's pinstriped vest and light blue shirt "My name is Christopher Smith, I am here on the behalf of Mr. Outlook. If you would please step outside so that we might have a private conversation, hm?"

Sabo knit his eyebrows together. Outside wasn't very private, in his opinion. He turned to look over his shoulder at Luffy, who was frowning from the kitchen table. He turned back again, schooling his expression into a more neutral one and nodded, "Alright." He agreed, following the man outside and closing the front door behind him.

"I suppose you know why I'm here?" Smith asked, looking back at him over his shoulder before actually turning around.

"I think I have a good enough idea." Sabo allowed, crossing his arms over his chest. The man made eye contact and stared for a moment, saying nothing. Sabo fought to keep himself from curling in on himself, but he still angled his head to the side and wished his hair would grow back out already. He knew what this Smith guy was staring at. He wasn't making eye contact. People don't often make eye contact like that.

Sabo cleared his throat. "Well. Get on with it, then."

"I was sent here by your father to tell you that you have one day. Pack up your stuff and say your good-byes. You're coming with me. Be thankful he's even giving you a day." Smith announced.

Sabo sneered, "He couldn't come and get me himself? Tell him to fuck off." Sabo was legitimately furious. His dad had sent a fucking escort to collect him? That's how it had always been. There was never enough time for Sabo. It was always about the business. Sent the secretaries and the bodyguards and the caretakers to handle your own fucking child instead of going yourself. In hindsight he was thankful, that meant more time with people not his parents who might have actually cared about him marginally more than his own family did, but it hurt. It hurt _a lot_. Sabo couldn't believe there was a time when he'd tried to desperately to impress them, make them smile and say they were proud of him. Well, he could because it was only natural for a child to seek their parent's approval, but _fuck_.

Glancing around to make sure no one was in earshot, Smith asked, "Well then, are you going to give up? Was killing one friend not enough to get you to behave?" he remarked.

"Ace was my _brother_ and don't you _dare_ even _think_ about touching Luffy." Sabo bristled, hands dropping to his sides and curling into fists. Was this man _seriously_ making light of Ace's death with a sneer on his face? It took all of Sabo's willpower to not slug him right then and there. "They have nothing to do with _any_ of this!"

"Well, that depends on your next course of action." Smith mused, inspecting his nails. He used another nail to clean the grime out from underneath one of the others. "Has the warning made itself clear or are you going to continue on down this path of self-destruction of yours?"

"I felt it loud and clear," Sabo growled, gesturing absently to himself and all of his burn scars. He let himself deflate a little, eyes falling to the ground even though he still felt like punching the man in the face. He had to play this right.

"I don't trust you," Smith declared. "You've always been a wily one, I hear, and your father has decided that you're coming back with me. Celestial doesn't trust that you'll keep your mouth shut no matter what you say."

Sabo shoved his hands into his pockets, raising his shoulder to his ears as he stared at the ground, toeing a stray stone on the concrete of the pathway. "If he has the gall to force me to go back to Boston, he should have the courtesy of coming to get me himself." He argued, looking up to glare at Smith to show that he was serious.

"Your father is a busy man," Smith dismissed.

Sabo grimaced, "Tell me something I don't know."

"So, pretending as though you have a choice, are you coming or not?" Smith snarked.

"Pretending as though I have a choice, I say take that offer and shove it up your ass. You can't make me do shit." Sabo pulled his hands out oh his pockets and crossed them over his chest again, angling his chin upwards slightly.

"I thought so. I'll be back here at eleven A.M. tomorrow to take you to the airport then." Smith spun on his heels and started for his car. Sabo was about to turn and head back to the house when he noticed that Smith had only taken two steps before stopping one more to say "And another thing," he half turned to look at Sabo once more.

"Hm?" Sabo prompted, shifting his weight onto one foot and slouching as he looked back at him. He didn't really give a shit what the guy had to say anymore.

Smith pulled his hand from his pocket, something fit comfortably in his palm. "Be sure you're ready." A _shink_ and sunlight glinted off the metal of what Sabo quickly recognized as a zippo lighter, "I have no qualms against burning another house down to get you to come out of hiding."

 _What!?_ Sabo's mind quickly put two and two together. Did he just imply what he thinks he just implied?

 _Shhlick_ the lighter snapped shut and Smith smirked.

Sabo's fist was already aiming for the bastard's face before Sabo had even registered that he was moving. His fist connected with his jaw and Smith was sent reeling backward. "You son of a bitch!"

"This is assault!" The man exclaimed.

"You killed him!" Sabo snarled, grappling the man to the ground and clawing at the lapels of his suit before reeling back his aching fist for another punch.

"I don't know what you're saying! Unhand me!" The man shrieked, but the triumphant smirk on his face was telling a very different story. Sabo saw red.

There were hands on him before Sabo could land the second punch. Sabo struggled, kicking and screaming as he tried to get at the son of a bitch on the ground before him. He wasn't even sure what he was saying anymore, only that angry words were pouring out of his mouth as he struggled against his suppresser.

"Sabo! What are you doing? Calm down before someone calls the cops on you." A gravely voice yelled in his ear. Jimbei.

Sabo struggled some more, "Let me go! He killed Ace! You have to let me go!" Sabo hissed, watching as the piece of shit got up off the ground and straightened out his ugly pinstriped vest and light blue shirt.

"You bastard!" A foot came from Sabo's right and connected with the man's chest in a side kick, knocking him back to the ground as Luffy landed back down on the sideway, chest heaving for air.

"Luffy!" Sabo exclaimed, watching as his little brother struggled with the effort of breathing and all of the fight drained out of himself, "Luffy stay out of this. Go back inside."

"I'm not a child!" Luffy agued.

"Both of you just need to calm down!" Jimbei yelled, voice tense and raised.

"I could have you both arrested for this." The man wheezed, attempting to painfully lift himself up off the ground.

"Arrest _us_!?" Sabo was furious again. The man _set his house on fire_ and had the gall to say that _they_ were the ones who should be arrested!?

Jimbei put Sabo down but kept a firm grasp on his arm to hold him back. Luffy was just starting to get his breath back and Jimbei eyed him wearily to probably determine if he'd be striking back out a second time.

"Yes. Arrest you both." Smith grimaced, unable to get himself up off the ground after Luffy's blow to his chest. "Celestial can have it swiftly arranged if you don't oblige to their demands. You're going back tomorrow or you'll both be off to prison."

"Sabo spit on the ground before him, "Fuck you."

"I take it that's a no?" Smith raised an eyebrow.

"I'll be ready. You better not be fucking late." Sabo hissed, turning on his heel and storming inside, pulling Luffy along with him.

* * *

"You're really going then?" Luffy frowned, sitting next to Sabo on the couch in Jimbei's living room.

"Yeah…" Sabo sighed, carefully thumbing over the darkening bruise around the band-aid on his right fist. Sabo hadn't realized how much it hurt to actually punch someone in the face in the real world until he'd punched that son of a bitch in the front yard. He should have aimed a little higher, making a mental note to never punch someone in the vicinity of their mouth ever again. The man's teeth had cut Sabo's knuckle.

Luffy chewed on his lower lip as he frowned, "I wish you didn't have to, but… promise me you'll be safe?"

"I should be the one telling you that," Sabo smiled, but he knew it didn't quite reach his eyes. "But okay."

Luffy took a hesitant breath "Promise me… that you'll come back?"

Sabo's eyes dropped to the carpet for a moment, chewing on the inside of his cheek before saying "I can promise you that I'll try."

"That's not the same thing." Luffy narrowed his eyes. "That doesn't mean _anything_."

"It's the best I can offer, though. I'm sorry. I'll try. I promise. I just… don't know how long I'll be. I'll… I'll try and call as often as I can, okay?" Sabo tried to compromise with Luffy.

Luffy sighed, obviously not happy, but not arguing the point any further either. Instead, he leaned over and nudged his forehead into Sabo's shoulder. "Fine," He resigned.

Sabo turned and wrapped his arms around Luffy's shoulders for one final hug. "Don't get into too much trouble while I'm gone, okay?" Sabo whispered into Luffy's hair.

"I'll try not to." Sabo could feel Luffy's sad smile pressed into his shoulder as he spoke.

"You ready? They're waiting for you outside, Sabo." Jimbei announced, peaking his head into the living room. "All your stuff has already been loaded up."

"Alright." Sabo gave Luffy one last squeeze before reluctantly pulling away. He looked Luffy over once before nodding in satisfaction and standing, slinging his messenger bag over his shoulder. He opened it up and extracted his notepad, favorite pen, and his flash drive. He held onto them for a moment before handing them to Luffy "Make sure nothing happens to those, alright?" He couldn't trust that they wouldn't be confiscated and looked through when he arrived. "If you see Robin again, give them to her, would you?"

"Okay." Luffy nodded, clutching the notepad to his chest.

"I'll see ya, Luffy." Sabo waved as he exited the living room.

"See ya," Luffy called after him.

The son of a bitch from the day before was nowhere to be seen. Someone else had arrived to pick him up in a _limo_ of all things. Sabo didn't realize that his ride to his own personal prison would be so luxurious. A high-class prison deserved a high-class delivery transport, Sabo supposed.

The ride to the airport was a smooth and uneventful one. The ride was much shorter than he remembered it being, though Jimbei's house was much closer to Dallas than their house had been. The trip through the airport had been even faster. They bypassed all security and headed straight for the plane. It took only a few minutes rather than a few hours. This only made Sabo's mood fouler. All this privilege was just because his father had thrown money at them? That money could be used for so many other things but, not, it was being wasted on trifles like this. Sabo hated everything about being rich. No one had told Sabo they'd be taking the private jet. Sabo crossed the tarmac to the aircraft with a fire in his step. It was all bullshit. Sabo was already sick of security guards following him around and it had only been ten minutes since the first one had attached himself to his hip. And a private jet!? Was this really necessary!? Sabo ranted to himself as he climbed the familiar steps up to the craft. He'd been in one before long, long ago so this was nothing new, but that didn't mean he hated it with every fiber of his being now. Sabo remembered that he used to love it. he also remembered the moment he realized that not everyone had their own private jet.

The last thing that Sabo had expected to see inside the jet, however, was his father lounging in one of the four large, plush chairs situated along the middle of the left-hand wall by the wet bar. Occupying another of the seats was that other son of a bitch with a darkening bruise on his left cheek.

"Take a seat." His father commanded.

"I didn't expect you to come." Sabo scowled.

"Sit." Outlook snapped.

Sabo's eyes instinctually dropped from his father's gaze at the sharp tone of the command and he sat in the empty chair across from his father, clutching his messenger back in his hands. _Fuck_. Why did his father still have so much control over him? It wasn't _fair_. Sabo hated it. He wasn't a coward. Why did this always happen!?

"Let's get started then." Outlook declared, holding out his hand to the side. A cup of something, probably some sort of alcohol was placed into his hand and he took a sip. "We have a lot of ground to cover on what is expected of you, so be sure to listen carefully."

Sabo gripped his bag tighter and stared at his shoes, choking out a "Yes, sir," before he let his eyes wander back up again. Outlook's nose was crooked, and Sabo found a little bit of satisfaction in that, at least.

* * *

A/N: WOW. Okay. So.

1\. Again, I am so sorry for the unexplained long delay in getting you this chapter. I got a bad case of writer's block mainly because I wasn't sure how I wanted to portray the first half of this chapter. I went through multiple drafts trying different tones until I settled on what you got. The biggest thing I struggled with was to even include it at all, but I wanted to give a glimpse into the kind of ceremony that goes on when a firefighter dies and some of the traditions that get upheld and such. So when I did that I struggled with the tone to set and just GAH. Every week I was like "I'll have it done this weekend!" and every weekend I was like "FUCK I DON'T KNOW HOW TO WRITE THIS." I knew everything I wanted for the back half I just _needed to get the front half done first_. I'm pretty sure I annoyed one of my friends with my struggle, but they were a huge help in getting me through my writer's block to get you this chapter.

2\. To the guest, petite lili, who asked me to write a one-shot about the Whitebeard's reaction to finding the news about Ace, I want you to know that I'm on it. It might be a while before I finish it, but I am working on it.

3\. THERE IS FAN ART OF THIS FIC NOW?! LIKE. HOLY SHIT!? I can't link it here, but check out my main tumblr blog, dragon6125, where I reblogged her wonderful fan art. There're two posts.

And lastly, I want to thank you all soooo sooo much for your continued support and hope that you're all still on board for the ride despite the long wait. I'm back into the swing of things but this is always a really hard time for me every year, so I'm going to aim for a chapter every 3 weeks, but if I get one done earlier then I get it done earlier! The only reason I survived the winter last year when I started this fic was because I had 5 chapters done when I started D:.

All of your reviews are precious to me and all of your follows and faves are greatly appreciated for existing. I love you all~ I'm doing my best. I'll try not to make you guys wait so long for the next chapter again.


	20. Ch 20: The Plan Prt 2

A/N: So I forgot it was midterms and definitely did not have the time to finish the chapter by last week :| But at least it's here now! Sorry about the wait.

At least this chapter is getting put out faster than the last two have been xD my motivation rises and falls with the seasons. Winter is a hard few months for me every year, but now that Spring Break has just passed, the weather is warm enough for me to sit outside again, and I'm not seasonally depressed, things should pick back up again. Hopefully, I can get back into regular releases and keep to my promised schedule.

Anywho, without further ado, let's get to the chapter:

* * *

 **Chapter 20**

There was a bit of static noise from the payphone receiver in his hands before the line connected on its second ring. God this thing had to be _ancient_. Sabo couldn't even remember the last time he'd seen a payphone in person.

"Hello?" The voice on the other end of the line greeted, the lit of his voice at the end of the word betraying a layer of confusion.

"What did I say about answering the phone for strange numbers that you don't recognize?" Sabo scolded playfully, a small smile tugging at his lips as he crowded himself against the payphone, elbows resting atop the box.

"Sabo!? Is that really you?" Luffy's voice pierced through the receiver, prompting Sabo to pull it away from his ear with a wince. "It's Sabo!" Luffy cheered, calling out to whomever else was with him. "Sabo! Hi! How are you? Are you okay? I haven't heard from you since… since September? Yeah… September…" Luffy trailed off and Sabo frowned, thinking back and realizing that it had indeed been _months_ since he last called Luffy. "It's good to hear from you again, though!" Luffy continued after just a moment's pause. "I'm over at Law's right now. Usopp is going to try and get into college here in Dallas next year, isn't that exciting? And I got another Dragon headset! It was a gift from Marco and Whitebeard Pops so I get to play again!"

"Yeah?" Sabo smiled, feeling much more relaxed now than he had been ten minutes ago. It was really good to hear Luffy's voice again.

"Yeah!" Luffy continued. "Oh! And I can walk to my new school without feeling winded anymore! I still can't run very much, though… I really miss soccer. They might still let me coach at the old elementary school, though? The new school is kinda eh and I miss all the kids I used to watch back at Summit Elementary already, but I actually have some friends now! In my own grade! My own age! And the lady that wanted to join our crew in the game is _super handy_. Shi shi. We gave her the devil fruit we won from Thriller Bark and it lets her sprout hands everywhere! Since she needs to get strong fast so we can meet Blackbeard, we decided it would help her out. We've been tailing after him, but it's getting tough because he just crossed into the New Word and we haven't been able to get over there yet. Sailing is easier now, though, because she can lend us all so many extra hands shishi. I gave her the thing, too! Just so you know. Just like you asked." Luffy paused to take a deep breath, sounding a bit winded now that he'd finished vomiting out everything that he had to say just now. Sabo was relieved that he'd gotten his notebook and flash drive to Robin. "How about you?" Luffy asked hesitantly, "Are you doing good?"

"I could be better, Luff," Sabo admitted, eyes shifting to look at the bodyguard standing alert to his right. She was keeping an eye out for anyone who might be looking for him. She was new, but apparently sympathetic if the fact that he was even talking to Luffy right now said anything. His last bodyguard had not extended the same kindness and he wondered what prompted the change. Sabo didn't think Outlook would ever get rid of the last guy. He didn't know her motive for letting him call, so he couldn't reveal anything right now. He settled for just saying, "I've been hard at work studying so I haven't been able to get out much, but I'm glad you're doing well."

"Well, it…" Luffy paused, the sound of a door closing interrupting the odd pause before Luffy continued "I'm not the best right now, either, honestly." Luffy admitted softly. The sound of a shower curtain being pulled out of the way reached Sabo's ears. "Sorry. Finding a private place to sit. I'm sitting on the edge of the bathtub now. Anyway, I just… Merry Christmas, Sabo. I know it's not 'till tomorrow, but…"

"Merry Christmas, Luffy," Sabo replied regretfully.

"I got invited to Christmas with the McCollum family, so I get to meet Law and Nami's parents and their other sister. I'm kinda excited, but also nervous, and mostly just sad…" Luffy drifted off.

"What about Shanks and Makino?" Sabo asked, a little surprised.

"I told them to go and visit her family like they were supposed to this year instead of worrying about me… I didn't want them to stick around and hang out with me just because they felt like they had to since you weren't here… but it's okay, I think. The three of us had a little mini Christmas this morning before they left. It would be better if you were here, but I think that I'll still have a lot of fun. Law and I are leaving for Austin tonight."

"It's gonna be alright, Luffy. You'll have fun with your friends," Sabo assured him, glad that at least Luffy had someone to spend Christmas with. His birth family had never really been big on celebrating Christmas. He'd usually have to spend the whole day studying when he was a child, and that's probably what he'll end up doing to keep himself distracted this year. He planned to join the staff for their Christmas dinner, but there was still a whole day he had to distract himself through.

"I know, but it would still be better if we could have Christmas _together._ " Luffy pouted.

"I'm sorry." Sabo apologized. "I know. I wish I could." He really did. He would rather be anywhere else in the world, but that was obvious.

"Don't apologize because it's not your fault." Luffy insisted.

"'m sorry." Sabo apologized again.

Luffy sighed and there was a second before he changed the subject "Oh. Uh. I got a call from Gramps?" Luffy informed him hesitantly.

"What?" Sabo stood up straight, eyebrows furrowing in surprise. His voice was louder than he intended it to be so he reeled it back in as he continued, "Really?"

"He's been in Brazil for the last several years I guess. Didn't tell us that's where he was going but that's where he's been," Luffy revealed.

"Brazil? Why's that?" Sabo asked, recalling that that was both Ace and Luffy's home country, but wondering why Garp would have gone back.

"I don't know, he didn't elaborate, but he did say that he'll be dropping in around New Years and that he's not going to be alone. I told him not to bother because the house is gone now." Luffy murmured.

"And what did he say about that?" Sabo prompted quietly, eyes flickering over to his bodyguard again. He wondered how much time he had left on his call now.

"He was surprised, asked where the hell we're staying now if we're not at the house… I ended up telling him what happened, seemed he hadn't heard yet. I don't know what he's going to do, though." Luffy admitted tentatively.

Sabo's bodyguard tapped her wrist, reminding him that he was running out of time in general and he waved her off. "I'm sorry, Luffy. I don't have a lot of time to talk. I need to head back before they notice I'm gone." Sabo frowned, glancing up and down the hallway and pulling away from the payphone box.

"'kay…" Luffy sighed. "Well, then, Merry Christmas, Sabo."

"Merry Christmas, Luff. I'll try and get in a longer phone call with you sooner rather than later, but—"

"No promises. I know." Luffy finished for him.

A twinge of regret spiked in Sabo's chest by the fact that the phrase had been entirely expected. "I'm sorry."

"Stop apologizing." Luffy scolded lightly.

"I know. I'll… I'll try and call you on New Years, at least." Sabo tentatively offered, avoiding calling it what it was to them: Ace's Birthday. "I don't have my own phone anymore but I'll try and get away again."

"You better," Luffy affirmed.

Sabo glanced up at his bodyguard, who made the cut off signal. "Okay. I really gotta go now. Talk to you later, okay, Luff?"

"Okay. Bye. Love you." Luffy replied.

"Love you, too, Luff." Sabo closed off before hanging up the phone.

"C'mon. Let's go." The bodyguard hissed, leading a quick pace back down the hallway the moment the receiver had been replaced. Her voice was vaguely familiar to Sabo now that he thought about it.

"I can't think you enough for doing this for me." Sabo jogged to catch up with her.

She turned, pulling down her sunglasses and revealing a pair of ice blue eyes. She smiled and winked, saying, "It's the least I can do to help a friend."

Sabo halted, nearly falling over in his haste as he whisper-shouted, "Robin!?"

Robin pushed her sunglasses back up the bridge of her nose with a sly smile. "I don't know of whom you speak, the name is Agent Shepard, remember?" Sabo had not.

"But—how. You. What? You—" Sabo sputtered but was cut off.

"Not now. You have work to do, remember? We can find time to talk later." Robin compromised as she resumed walking.

"Holy shit…" Sabo whispered under his breath as he hurried to catch up with her. He was burning with a million questions, but they would all have to wait.

"C'mon. We gotta get you back to the Gala." Robin reminded him, picking up the pace again.

"Do we have to?" Sabo sighed, pushing his other questions aside.

"Yes. Your father said this is non-negotiable." Robin reminded him. Sabo grimaced at the labeling of Outlook as his father and Robin seemed to pick up on his discomfort. She flashed him an apologetic look.

"Do I have to talk, though?" Sabo whined.

"Not in front of everyone unless Outlook changes his mind, but you are still expected to continue making nice with the guests. Make sure that you—"

"Don't do anything to disgrace the family name, I know," Sabo grumbled, cutting her off. He'd heard the words enough in his life.

"Right," Robin affirmed. She came to a stop outside of a set of large metal doors and turned to Sabo, giving him a once over that prompted Sabo to look down and make sure that his suit was still smooth and that he was presentable. Sabo straightened his tie and looked up. Robin nodded, pushed open the door, and held it open for him. The sound of jazzy Christmas music and polite chatter washed over them as soon as the door swung open. "I'll be keeping an eye out. You should know the way back to the main hall."

Sabo hummed dismissively and stepped through the door, pausing for a moment to collect himself before he started down the hallway to rejoin the party. When he reached the end of the hallway, he was standing along the edge of the grand foyer in a high-end hotel. The foyer was littered with tables and people lit by artificial candlelight and decorated with Christmas lights, garlands, and fake snow. The towering pillars on either side of the foyer were likewise wrapped in garland, white Christmas lights, and decorated with red ornamental orbs.

It was the Outlook Industries Christmas Eve Charity Event, not that Outlook was charitable. It was all for show, really. The public likes charity events and they make him look good. Sabo was sure that most of the money would somehow end up circling back to Celestial hands in the end. It couldn't all circle around, of course. Some of the money was actually going somewhere. Sabo had felt the bile rise in his throat when he found out that the major charity that the gala would be going towards was for burn victims. The _audacity_ that these motherfuckers had was—Sabo stopped himself before he got too riled up and irritated about it all over again. It just those pieces of shits think they can—stop. Breathe. Sabo closed his eyes and took two deep breathes in in an attempt to calm himself down.

Maybe it was possible for Sabo to just avoid conversation for the rest of the night entirely. He'd been forced into some strained polite conversation with some large corporate owners over dinner and he had has about had it with conversation already. Some of the people were genuine, yes, but Sabo had already had his fill of this. He was sick of being stared at.

Scanning the crows of people in fancy dresses and pristine suits drinking champagne, or dancing in front of the stage were a live band was playing that jazzy Christmas music he'd heard earlier, Sabo scoped out a place for himself to stand in and hopefully go unbothered. He made his way towards it, only accidentally running into a chair once because it had been on his blind side. He was still trying to get used to it all, but at least now he wasn't running into every doorframe, table, chair, counter, or person located on his left side.

There was a quiet pace against the wall near the corner on the left side of the door that Sabo made himself at home in. He hoped he might be able to avoid most of the people this way. He felt extremely out of place in this setting – that was something that had never changed. He'd never mixed with these types of crowds filled with celebrities and high rollers. This was the very first gala event that Sabo had been required to attend, too. It was his public debut or some shit like that. No thank you. Sabo pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose and leaned against the wall like his etiquette coach had told him not to. He still contemplating getting contacts again, maybe one colored so that it could obscure the discoloration in the iris of his left eye, changing it back to blue from its currently lifeless gray. He might be more comfortable if his blindness was less obvious, but it was contacts that got him in that mess to begin with. He'd continue to consider it.

The quiet solitude he enjoyed didn't last more than five minutes.

"You must be Outlook's son." A man called out, forcing Sabo's eyes to turn up so that he could see who was addressing him. Shit.

Sabo straightened his posture, put on a smile he hoped didn't look too fake, and nodded, "I am," Sabo confirmed, the words tasting like bile in his mouth as he said them.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Bo." The man extended his hand in greeting and Sabo forced himself to take it, eye twitching slightly at the nickname given to him as a child. He hated it. Hated it with every fiber of his being. The only people who called him Bo were these high society pieces of shit associated with the horrid life he'd tried to leave behind.

"The pleasure is mine." Sabo lied. He kept up the pleasantries while looking for a way to escape the conversation, but more and more people started gravitating into the conversation. Conversation was a loose term, however. There was a whole lot of talking going on and almost no listening. Sabo accepted the champagne flute offered to him by a server, but he didn't intend to drink it. As long as he had one in his hands, no one would offer him one and that was one less person bothering him.

As Sabo watched the 'conversation' playing out in front of him, he suddenly got curious and wanted to test out something that he'd read in a book or seen on the internet once a few years back. When he felt the moment was right, he cheerfully declared "You know, I executed a grandmother last week! It was probably the easiest thing I'd ever done." Sabo waved his glass dismissively "I think I'll be able to move on to eliminating larger and stronger targets in the near future without much of a hassle." He took a sip of the beverage and watched the crowd of people that had magnetized around him for their reactions.

"Congratulations! Your father must be proud." One lady responded with a grin.

"I'm not surprised! I bet you'll be able to handle it with ease being an Outlook and all." A man on Sabo's left cheered.

Another person turned around to toast and say congratulations as well, even though he probably had no idea what he was congratulating.

Sabo gave an extravagant bow in acceptance of all their praise. Oh my god these people. Holy shit. It really _was_ bad. That went much better than he expected it would. "Thank you. Thank you. I'll make sure to get it done in half the time next assignment. I can't be letting your grandmothers suffer, now can I?"

That set off a whole different set of laughter, empty praise, encouragement, and well-wishing that nearly had Sabo rolling his eyes so far back into his skull that he was afraid they'd never come back if he actually let himself roll them. Instead, he simply let his gaze dart off to the side as he pretended to see someone he recognized. "It was a pleasure talking to you all, but there is someone I'd like to greet."

"Did a pretty girl catch your eye?" a guy on the right suggested, elbowing him casually.

Sabo resisted grimacing for the hundredth time that night. What was this guy doing, acting all buddy buddy with him? Sabo furrowed his eyebrows and muttered out an "Uh, yeah, sure." And hurried off, downing the champagne as he went. Well, there went that resolution.

"Good luck!" someone shouted after him and this time Sabo _did_ roll his eyes.

A full glass of champagne found its way into his hands almost immediately after the first one had been emptied. Sabo was now convinced that the servers were ninjas. Okay so he wasn't going to drink _this one_ he decided as he navigated though the crowd and ignored anyone who weekly attempted conversation. He wasn't about to accidentally drink himself under the tables. Sure the alcohol convinced donors to donate more money, but he didn't need any of this. Couldn't they just serve regular drinks? What would it take to get a water in here? Jeez.

The next hideaway spot that Sabo chose was a spot leaning his left side against one of the many tall pillars surrounding the foyer of the hotel. Screw etiquette. He was going to lean against whatever he wanted to lean against. Having his blindside against a solid surface also helped to ease a little bit of the anxiety he felt in his gut. No one could sneak up on him if he had a solid object on his left.

From the pillar, Sabo had a clear line of sight to the stage up front upon which Outlook was to give his speech to open up the charity auction. Sabo was expected to stand up there with him in Stelly's place. Stelly was not in attendance tonight because the public still held a general air of distaste towards him and the events surrounding the court trial. Just like Outlook had promised back in his office that hot July afternoon, Stelly avoided jail, but that only served to fuel the public's anger about a rich kid getting let off the hook for running a red light and killing people in a drunk driving accident. There was a lot of damage to both Outlook and Stelly's public images that had to be repaired, but for some reason, Outlook had decided that now was the time to start building up Sabo's own. It would have been laughable if Sabo could guarantee that he wouldn't be trapped in this miserable existence for the rest of his life. If Robin was here, however, it was a good sign that there was a chance that he might be able to escape it like they'd planned.

The sound of a shutter snapping drew Sabo's attention away from the Christmas trees crowding the stage on either side of the band and to his right where he found someone taking his picture on a Nikon camera.

"Sorry, I was asked to take candids. I hope that was alright," a familiar voice asked, a hit of amusement to her tone. Sabo's jaw went slack as he recognized Koala of all people standing there wither her camera clutched in both hands and attached to a strap around her neck.

Sabo opened his mouth to ask her what she was doing here, but she gave her head a small, minuscule shake that prevented him from asking the question. He's not supposed to know her. "Yeah, that's fine," Sabo said instead.

"I'll introduce myself, my name's Koala Fisher. I'm one of the photographers for tonight's charity gala." Koala introduced herself, holding out her hand to shake.

Sabo accepted her hand and gave it a polite shake. She pressed something into his palm as she extracted her hand and Sabo shoved it and his hand into his pocket. "Sabo Outlook Jr." God, he hated saying that.

"You're the man of the hour, yes? I hear this year's event was all done for you." Koala smiled, hand returning to her camera so that both hands rested with the expensive looking equipment.

"Hardly." Sabo shook his head, taking a sip from his glass. He fiddled with what felt to be a scrap of paper in his palm. "My father's the one doing the talking. I'm just along for the show. I'm as far from the spotlight as you can get. Ten years in the dark and all." Sabo pulled his hand from his pocket, leaving the paper behind, and shifted the flute from his right hand to his left.

"But it's your big debut! Are you excited? Your father's been keeping you under the radar for all that time, it's been a surprise to everyone that you're suddenly back in the picture. There's a lot of talk flying around about the situation. Is any of that going to be cleared up tonight?" Koala asked, putting on a bit of journalist charm.

"I'm _thrilled_. I _couldn't be more excited_ to be here tonight. I'm _so glad_ that my _father_ is finally acknowledging my talent and is letting me step into spotlight," Sabo deadpanned.

Koala had to stifle a laugh behind her hand and she shook her head. Sabo couldn't help the twitch of a smile that formed on his lips.

"Well, I have a job to do, so I better get back to it." Koala declared regretfully, "One more picture, though." She smiled as she lifted her camera and snapped another photo of Sabo before she turned on her heel and disappeared back into the crowd.

Sabo resisted the urge to check the paper in his pocket until later and hoped that he wouldn't forget that it was there. As it stood now, it was almost burning a hole through his pocket with how aware of it he was. He couldn't imagine ever forgetting about it. He just needed to continue on as he was. Why was Koala here, though? That was the most important question. When did she get tangled up in helping with the plans move forward? Unless she wasn't even here for that at all… It was hard to say until Sabo could get his eyes on that scrap of paper. How had the plan evolved since he'd been gone?

Knowing that if he stood there for any longer someone else would corner him for a conversation, Sabo started to move to find another quiet place to stand or sit. It was too late, though. Someone hailed him and Sabo was forced to turn and acknowledge him with a conversation. And _great_ it was another man talking up his daughter and insisting that the two of them would get along great together. Sabo tried every tactic possible to wiggle out of this awkward conversation but, in the end, it was Robin who had to come to his rescue. Unfortunately, it was just to take him out of the frying pan and drop him into the fire. She was there to tell him that it was time for him to meet up with his father. Sabo suddenly wasn't sure which conversation he preferred now. Guys with ulterior motives talking to him and hoping they might be able to social climb by pawning off their daughters to the highest bidder _or_ having to stand next to Outlook while the man lied through his teeth to the masses.

"You're late." Outlook hissed at Sabo as Robin brought him to a halt in front of him. He reached out and Sabo flinched away, but Outlook only tugged at his growing hair with disdain, "I told you to get your hair cut today."

"It's too late for that now," Sabo growled, combing his fingers through is hair to resettle it the way he liked it. It still wasn't long enough, but it was getting there. "I'm not getting it cut."

"You look like a homeless hippie with hair like that. It's disgusting." Outlook grimaced. "You're getting it cut tomorrow. It's a mess."

"It's not even that long and tomorrow is _Christmas,_ " Sabo argued.

"Who gives a shit," Outlook argued. "We don't have time for this right now. C'mon." he whipped around to look at the stage, "Where's the announcer?"

"Hell if I know." Sabo dismissed, shifting his weight onto one foot.

"Bo." Outlook gritted his teeth, snapping back around to Sabo. Sabo flinched as Outlook's hand rose threateningly. The man took a deep breath and then simply shoved his finger into Sabo's chest as he declared "I've about had it with your attitude today."

Sabo's mouth snapped shut in the face of Outlook's furrowed eyebrows and set chin. He wanted so badly to shoot back some other snide remark, but those cold eyes never failed to disarm him and leave him nearly shaking in fear. It was so _frustrating_. "Sir." Sabo acknowledged quietly, eyes dropping as his shoulders rose slightly. It was submissive and it was disgusting to Sabo that he'd been reduced to this.

"Come." Outlook turned on his heel once more and started towards the stage, the announcer climbing the steps of the stage already and approaching the podium to address the crowd. Sabo gritted his teeth, wanting this all to be over with as soon as possible.

* * *

It was nearly two in the morning when Sabo finally found sanctuary in the bathroom of his room at the Outlook's New York Penthouse. He locked the door behind him and turned on the sink before he started making a sweep of the room, checking for cameras and microphones that might not have been there before. He'd already made this sweep when they'd moved into the penthouse for the winter, but he couldn't be too sure that nothing had been added since then. It seemed that the only thing in the bathroom was still just the microphone behind the mirror. He wasn't even sure if any of it was actually operational. It was nerve wracking.

Outlook, or that bitch he married, or a servant used to come in and check in on him once every hour when Sabo had first returned, always suspecting that he might be up to something. As the weeks passed it became less and less frequent. Now, four months later, Outlook believed that Sabo was genuine with his return and had reduced his intrusions to once a week to quiz and test him on various things he'd been told to study. There was no longer a bodyguard almost literally attached to his hip at all hours of the day to make sure he wouldn't try anything. Surveillance wasn't nonexistent, but it was certainly less that it had been four months ago.

Satisfied that there were no cameras in the bathroom at least, Sabo pulled the folded scrap of paper from his pocket. He unfolded it and found a message that simply read _Next time you're in Boston, we'll be ready. Adams – Granary._ Sabo debated flushing the note or eating it. It _was_ a small enough piece of paper. Sabo quietly refolded it and stuck it between his teeth as he thought about the message. Adams Granary? What was that supposed to mean? Sabo started chewing on the paper and leaned against the lip of the elaborate marble sink, turning it off as he did so.

Starting with the Adams bit, did it mean John Adams or Samuel Adams? Sabo pulled away from the sink and stepped back out into his bedroom. John Adams was the second president of the United States and the original proposer of the Declaration of Independence. His cousin, Sam Adams, was the man from Boston who is credited for instigating the entire revolution and was the founder of the Sons of Liberty. Chances were, the message was referring to Samuel Adams. But what about the Granary part of the message?

Sabo began to strip out of his suit and hang it up properly in his closet. What did a grain storehouse have to do with anything? And in what way was it related to Samuel Adams? It probably had nothing to actually do with a grain storehouse. There was something familiar about it, but Sabo just couldn't put his finger on it. _Think, Sabo, Think._ Sabo pulled on a pair of flannel pajama pants, flopped onto his bed, and stared up at the ceiling with his hands folded over his chest, grinding down on the remnants of the scrap of paper. What could it mean? Maybe he was just too tired to figure it out right now. He'll figure it out in the morning.

Sabo still hadn't figured it out by Christmas evening. He'd thought about it while mauling over the books on finances and business practices he was required to study at all times of day. The subject was one of the most god awful boring shit he'd ever had to study, just like he'd remembered it being when he was a child. Regardless, he still studied it with all the focus he could muster to keep himself from thinking about what this day meant to him, all of the memories he'd shared with his brothers and the neighbors, and the fun that they'd had. It wasn't enough, though. He still thought about it anyway. It was hard to ignore the aching hollow in his chest as he sat alone at his desk, pouring over his notes and textbooks. Now that he knew what Christmas could be, it made what Christmas always had been for him in this life that much more painful.

One of the workers came around dinner to collect him because he'd asked to help cool and to also eat with the staff on Christmas. On the way down to the kitchen, he requested that the older lady get him a copy of Samuel Adams' biography. To his delight, she'd smiled, laughed and told him that he'd never really changed. It was then that Sabo realized that she'd been working for Outlook since back when he was a child. She was the one that had always gone out and get him books to read when he requested new ones. Many of the books that he'd asked for over the years were still on the shelves in his room at the Boston mansion, which was curious to Sabo. That anything of his from when he was a kid had remained anywhere in that house. He'd started working back through them in his spare time, gaining a new appreciation for some of the classics he'd attempted to read while younger but didn't quite understand until now. It certainly helped pass the time when he wasn't studying or being yelled at for not studying.

Sabo had a lot of fun eating dinner with the workers of the apartment complex the Outlook Penthouse sat above. The next morning, the lady brought him the book he'd requested with a smile and told him that if there was ever another book that he wanted, all he had to do was ask. Sabo had thanked her, genuinely full of gratitude, before draping himself sideways over the sofa chair in the corner of his room. He picked up a pencil, flipped to a page in the middle of the book and wrote down 'Granary' along the crease before setting the utensil aside so that he could begin to read.

The thing he liked most about being in New York had to be, first and foremost, that Stelly wasn't there. Stelly was still on house arrest in Boston and, therefore, could not bother Sabo at all hours of the day. Sabo didn't have to ever deal with that entitled piece of shit busting into his room and being the rudest son of a bitch on planet earth while he was in New York. His room at the mansion didn't have a lock on it. It wasn't allowed to. Sabo couldn't even move furniture in front of the door to keep it closed because it opened out instead of in. They might as well just take the door off its hinges at that point, but if they did that then they couldn't utilize the lock that kept Sabo in without keeping them out. There was nothing to keep Stelly or anyone out of his room at all. It took everything Sabo had in him not to punch Stelly in the face every time he laid eyes on him. He couldn't, though. One wrong move and everything could blow up in his face. He had to stay low key. He couldn't let himself snap and ruin everything like that.

The second thing that he liked most about New York was definitely the snow. They didn't get much snow in Summit City, Texas – if any at all, but here? Sabo had forgotten about how many blizzards the New England coast regularly got every winter, dumping feet (not inches, _feet_ ) of snow onto the ground seemingly over night. Luffy would love snow, Sabo thought. He wasn't sure if Luffy had ever seen more than a dusting of snow on the streets after a flurry. He'd absolutely love playing in the snow if he could.

Apart from that, Sabo was never really a fan of big cities and New York City was _dense_. It was dense and dirty. There was trash in the streets and exhaust in the air. The people were rude (they were rude in Boston, too, but this was a different kind of rude) and seemed to always be in a rush, pushing through crowds of people to get where they needed to go. Those crowds of people were far too dense for Sabo's tastes, especially during the holidays. Sabo couldn't even imagine what the city was going to be like on New Years with the Ball Drop any everything. Dallas had always been a big city, yes, but Summit was just this calm satellite town on the west side of the big city. It was tame. New York City was chaos in comparison.

Sabo shifted his position so that he could rest his head against the back of the chair, pull his knees up, and rest his book upon his thighs in order to read. Maybe he'd find the answer to what the note meant by granary somewhere within the text on Samuel Adams. That's why he'd asked for it. It would have been so much easier to just look it up, but _no_. Sabo was phone-less and laptop-less and wasn't allowed to touch either in order to prevent communication with the outside world. Sabo had a feeling that the phrase Adams Granary had something to do with a meeting place of some kind. Sabo would skim read or check the appendix for it, but he was genuinely interested in Samuel Adams. It had been a while since he'd read up on him, so he was going to take his time with this one. Besides, he didn't need to rush it at all. He wouldn't be back in Boston 'till early spring.

* * *

"Where are you going?" the last sniveling voice that Sabo wanted to hear interrupted Sabo in the middle of his throwing of all the things he wanted to keep into a book bag. It, admittedly, wasn't much.

"Classes." Sabo lied. "I'm a responsible college student, remember?" Sabo reminded him, picking up his textbooks for good measure and shoving them into the book bag he had standing up on his bed. "Unlike you."

"I thought you were being privately tutored? "Stelly questioned, eyes narrowed.

"Shows how much you know about me, jackass." Sabo sneered, zipping up his bag. "That was just last semester because the semester was already starting when I got here. I'm enrolled for this semester, though. Now, excuse me." Sabo said, slinging the bag over his shoulders. "I'm going to be late to class so don't let me keep you from your beauty sleep. Lord knows you need it." Sabo declared, picking up the biography on Sam Adams up off of his desk and then intentionally shoving his way past Stelly to exit the doorway.

"What the fuck?" Stelly growled, "What the hell was that about?"

Sabo turned his head to the left to look at Stelly, even though he couldn't see him from that side, "Sorry. You're in my blind spot."

"Bullshit," Stelly called him out. Sabo narrowed his eyes, eyebrows knit close together before he fully turned so that he could see the bastard. Stelly took a step back as he took in Sabo's glare.

Sabo fondly remembered the time he punched Stelly in the face when they were kids and wished he could do it again now before he left, "I'm leaving for class. Is it too much to ask to not see your hideous face when I get back again?" he asked as he turned back around and resumed his trek down the hallway.

"I'm telling dad on you! You're being so fucking rude today, what's your deal!?" Stelly demanded.

"Bye, Stelly," Sabo called back. "Go cry to dad as much as you want, you're still a fucking wimp. All bark and no bite." God did Sabo wish he could punch him again, but he couldn't. Not yet. Not while the whole plan rested on them not knowing he was actually up to something. He wondered how long it would take before Stelly figured out he was right about Sabo's schooling.

It was warm outside when Sabo stepped out the front doors of the mansion. Spring was in the air, the breeze was nice and cool, and the sun presently warmed his skin. He had to remember to start putting sunscreen on his burns even if it wasn't hot out. the burn scars were all hypersensitive to the sun.

As Sabo approached the car waiting for him in the roundabout outside the front door, the driver's side door opened and Robin climbed out. "Get in back!" she instructed "I'll put your bag in the trunk." she offered, stooping out of view to pop the trunk and then circle around to meet him.

Sabo nodded and let the book bag drop from one shoulder before swinging it around. Robin grabbed it by the handle and pulled it off him, taking it to the trunk as Sabo pulled open the door to the backseat, biography on Sam Adams in one hand. He climbed in and Robin soon joined him when she returned to the driver's seat.

"You might want this," Robin suggested, picking something out of the cup holder and offering it back to him. Was that… his phone?!

"Where did you get this?" Sabo asked, reaching out and taking his phone from her. He stared at it in awe as if it might disappear the moment he looked away.

"I did some snooping and I found your messenger bag, laptop, phone. Everything. Got it all back for you. It's in the trunk." She smiled.

"Thank you so much!" Sabo melted into the back seat "You're literally the best and we haven't even left the driveway yet."

"You're welcome." Robin smiled, "So, where we headed?" She asked, pulling her sunglasses down to cover her eyes and looking back at him through the rear view mirror.

Sabo booted up his phone for the first time in almost seven months, hoping it was charged at least a little, and instructed, "The Tremont side of the Boston Common. We're headed to the Granary Burial grounds."

* * *

A/N: This chapter had a lot of breaks and time skips in it, but we're finally getting back into the thick of things. Transition chapters are some of the hardest shit to write, so that on top of having midterms delayed this chapter a week later than I promised. There were also a lot of things that I needed to set up this chapter and I had to make sure that I was going about the right way. That was what made this chapter a little stressful to finish because there was so much pressure on me to get it right before I posted it and it was set in stone haha I'm pretty excited for what's coming up, though! Stay tuned!

Also: There's more fanart of this fic! Check out evaienna on tumblr! Her fan art always makes me so happy~

Thanks again for all of your follows, favorites, and reviews. They keep me motivated to churn out chapter after chapter for myself and for y'all. I love writing this so I'm glad that so many of you love reading it.

Next Chapter: Let's try not to get caught, shall we?

To be continued...


	21. Ch 21: The Plan Prt 3

A/N: So I had to chop everything I had planned for this chapter into two parts because I wasn't done with it, it was looking to be getting a bit long with my previous plan, and my deadline had arrived. (a day late anyway woops. But I'd gotten an average of 2.5 hours of sleep for the last week and decided to call it a night before reviewing the chapter a final time.) But I probably should have expected it. I was getting a bit overzealous with my plan for this chapter. xD

Anywho, Without Further Ado…

* * *

 **Chapter Twenty-One**

"So you're certain that Outlook is going to be out of town _all day_ today?" Sabo asked, leaning forward and resting his elbows on the shoulders of the front seats so that he could have a good look out the windshield and talk to Robin. He'd been excited to get his phone back, but it was dead so it was kinda pointless and now he was fidgety. It made sense that that phone was dead considering the fact that it'd been sitting god knows where since August without being charged. Oh well.

"Yes, I escorted him myself," Robin confirmed. "I'm supposed to pick him up tonight."

"Are you?" Sabo asked.

Robin shot him a look through her sunglasses that Sabo couldn't exactly see as much as he could feel.

Okay, so he supposed that was an obvious one. Why would she go back to get him? So instead of answer his dumb question she simply said "Sit back and fasten your seat belt before your face smashes through this windshield," Robin warned. "It would be a shame if you died before we got anything accomplished."

Sabo signed and sat back, strapping himself in reluctantly, "What about my leaving?"

"It's covered," Robin assured him. "The staff is on your side, they'll let you slip and no one'll be the wiser… for now."

"For now? Shit," Sabo let his head fall back against the seat "What if they get pressed for answers about my whereabouts? I don't want them to get punished for anything that we're about to do just for letting me just walk out the front door." Sabo chewed on his bottom lip. "I'd hate for anyone to lose their jobs or get hurt over it. I know that they are in the dark about this, but still."

"Maybe Outlook will arrange to have them secretly disposed of," Robin supplied, not at all helping.

"Robin!" Sabo hissed, fists clenching the fabric of his jeans as he tensed, leaning forward, "Don't say that! Why do you do this to me? It's not funny," he glared. She caught a glimpse of her smirked from behind.

After a second's pause, Sabo let out a breath and relaxed, collapsing backwards once more with a heavy sigh of resignation. He gazed up at the roof of the car, the prospect of someone else getting hurt because of him weighing heavily on his mind now. No one should have to lose their jobs because of him. No one else should have to get hurt because of him. Enough people had already been hurt because of this without him adding any more people to the list. Most importantly, no one should have to die because of Celestial. The whole situation was messed up and everything needed to be dealt with as swiftly as possible. This had to end.

With a groan, Sabo lifted his head to look back at the back of Robin's head as he changed the subject "Stelly saw me leaving," He revealed half-heartedly. "He's an idiot, but he'll tell Outlook when it's first convenient and I'm sure that they'll put the pieces together eventually."

"They'll figure it out before lunch and the whole operation will have been doomed from the start," Robin deadpanned.

"You are the _worst_." Sabo groaned, the last word dragging out of his throat as he rubbed his hands up and down his face in frustration. After a moment, he let his hands fall limply to his sides as he stared off into space once more.

All things considered, Sabo was actually feeling happy somewhere underneath all of the building anxiety about the situation. He let out a rush of air that he hadn't realized he'd been holding and it was like the pile of chains that had been wrapped around his existence and holding him down for the last six months had relaxed enough to let him finally breathe. The last half year had been difficult, to say the least. More difficult than he cared to admit they had been. He'd been completely severed from the outside world, trapped inside of a bubble with the people he'd hated most and tried to leave behind a decade ago.

Phone calls _had_ become easier once Robin was in the picture and Outlook had gotten more lenient with his surveillance, but Sabo's calls still remained horribly inconsistent. He'd managed some privacy on New Year's, escaping the party that was being thrown in the penthouse so that he could get in some words with Luffy on a burner cell phone Robin had acquired for him. He'd sat curled up in a corner of his closet with the prepaid disposable phone clutched in his hands like a lifeline while Luffy talked and talked and talked until Robin warned Sabo that he was being looked for.

Luffy told him about his Christmas, Sabo laughing as his little brother described the glorious disaster that Christmas at the McCollum's had made itself out to be. It had been a series of chaotic events that resulted in dinner consisting of pizza rolls, cup noodles, Spaghettio's, and hot pockets because no one wanted to risk or spend the time trying to cook anymore. Luffy remarked that it was a miracle the microwave hadn't caught fire doing that much and talked about how Law had locked himself in the bathroom for hours during the initial ordeal as if he could avoid being associated with the disaster happening outside that confined space.

The way that Luffy talked about Christmas told Sabo that he'd had a ton of fun and Sabo was glad that he'd had such a great time even without him there. It was a weight off of his shoulders to know that Luffy was still being Luffy. Sabo was grateful that Luffy didn't ask him how his own Christmas had gone or how he was feeling, just resolved to talk until Sabo had to hang up. It helped a lot. It helped just to know that Luffy was going alright on his own and getting along great with Jimbei.

New Years had been a harder discussion. It was strained and their voices were laden with pain. Ace was supposed to turn twenty-two that day. They didn't avoid talking about him, though. They recalled some of their fondest memories of him and told them with tears in their eyes while they laughed. Sabo ended up telling Luffy about the letters then. Luffy had had no idea that the letters from Roger even existed and that Ace had been reading them before he'd died. Luffy was quiet for a moment before asking if Sabo knew whether or not Ace had forgiven Roger in the end or not. Sabo admitted that he didn't know the answer to that and the conversation moved on from there, switching topics to Luffy's plans for his last semester of high school.

The entire conversation had left Sabo feeling relaxed and put together for once. He'd managed to get only a handful of phone calls in since then, but those phone calls with Luffy were the only things keeping him going, keeping him grounded, and keeping him quiet. If he could get Outlook and everyone to be lenient enough then his chance would come one day. It would never come if he was being difficult and today his chance had finally come.

"You have the keys, right?" Robin asked him, pulling Sabo out of his thoughts and back to the driver.

"Yeah. Keys, passwords, permissions, everything," Sabo confirmed. "Outlook's taken me to the lab and the other offices twice a week for the last month and a half to attend meetings and such. I'm sure they wont think much of me showing up today on my own." He reached into his pocket, extracted a set of keys on a lanyard, and held them up for proof that he actually had them. "It'll be easy to convince them that these keys are rightfully mine."

"So you did get yourself into the system, then?" Robin asked just to clarify.

"Yes. I was given clearance to be in most of the companies that Outlook's company controls," Sabo confirmed, "But, it's true that my access to Celestial's buildings are limited and my authorization to access the inner workings of outlook Labs is non-existent," Sabo admitted.

"As expected. That's why he needed the help from that hacker friend of yours among other things." Robin acknowledged.

"I've had all of three conversations with him, I'd hardly call him a friend of mine. Speaking of, have you received any word on the progress with the AI situation?" Sabo asked.

"None." Robin shook her head "But we can assume they've got it sorted out. I'm as in the dark as you are about much of the plan since I infiltrated the system. I've had to keep myself out of the loop just in case. I don't know what we'll find at the Granary or where we're supposed to go from there, but I suppose we'll figure it out along the way."

"Right." Sabo accepted. He didn't like being out of the loop, but it couldn't be helped right now. He'd know everything soon enough. Sabo let himself relax once more, glancing out the window and watching as the scenery passed them by and the buildings got older and older. "What about Blackbeard and all of that? Did you guys manage to meet up with him?"

"We did," Robin confirmed.

"And?" Sabo prompted, shifting forward again.

"He's genuine. It's pretty clear to us that his goal is to take down Celestial just like ours. Despite my own reservations about his character and motives, he's our best shot at getting into the system and we've got to trust him in this. All of the passwords have likely changed since August if Celestial is in any way competent as a tech company. He'll have to get us new ones." Robin replied "But, if we've learned anything from Sci-Fi movies about AI, the chances of him betraying us once we've achieved our goal is high."

"Always the pessimist. I don't think we have anything to worry about." Sabo dismissed. "But if there is a concern, we'll cross that bridge when we get to it." Sabo relented, watching the familiar streets as they passed him by and they got deeper and deeper into the heart of historical Boston. He considered all of the robot and AI movies he could recall now that the question had been raised. "AI might not have the best track record in Media, but let's hope that we don't get a repeat of something like what happened in _I, Robot."_

"He's not a policing unit or security AI so I doubt that will happen. If anything it will probably be something more like what happened in _Transcendence_." Robin offered. "Corrupted by power and the creates a utopia defended by an army of completely obedient nano-tech controlled people."

"Bleak as ever," Sabo grumbled.

"We'll just have to make sure he doesn't get loose and gain access to the wealth of knowledge on the Internet," Robin assured him.

"And how do we plan to do that? We can't simultaneously promise to offer the AI who were once people a second chance at life and then deny him the same courtesy based on a small gut feeling," Sabo reminded her. "Besides, the risk isn't limited to him, either. Any of them have the potential of going rogue." He glanced through the windshield and realized they were practically there now. "We'll have to continue this conversation later, the cemetery is right there on the left and we need a place to park."

Once Robin had found a place to park, Sabo climbed out of the vehicle and headed for the trunk. Robin popped it open before she climbed out of the front seat and Sabo set about transferring some of his things from his book bag to his beloved messenger bag. Once he'd done that, he pulled his jacket from his book bag, slipped it on over his t-shirt because it was really chilly out, and then slung his messenger bag over his shoulder. It felt nice to have its familiar weight resting against his left hip once more.

"So what are we looking for here?" Robin asked, closing the trunk once Sabo picked up the biography on Samuel Adams and stepped back.

Sabo held up the book, waving it around a little, "Samuel Adams is buried here," he explained. "The note that Koala gave me at the gala said Adams – Granary on it. This is the Granary Burial Grounds and Samuel Adams is buried here, so… you get the idea." He tucked the book into the front pocket of his messenger bag and started down the sidewalk.

"Makes sense. Any idea about what we'll find here?" Robin trailed behind him.

"You know as much as I do. It's a very public place because the self-led Freedom Trail tours take people right by it and our arrival here was uncertain, so the options are limited. I told Luffy when I'd be back in Boston so hopefully he was able to pass that information along. I don't think that anything could be seen anywhere around the gravesite for any length of time without being discovered and removed. " Sabo assumed.

"There is a good chance that whatever we find will be inconspicuous then," Robin concluded. "Something that thousands of people can walk past and still remain unaware of its presence."

Sabo hummed in agreement, "Spring Break isn't until next week for most people and it's also eleven o'clock on a weekday in mid-March, so that makes it probable that the crowds won't be an issue. Hopefully, we'll be able to figure it out in a jiffy and no one will be the wiser." Sabo hoped as he bounded up the steps to reach the cemetery grounds.

The two of them paused in the front square of the cemetery, Robin casting an appraising glance across the scant amount of people milling about the graves. "Seems your observations was correct. Where's the grave in question?"

Sabo raised his right hand and pointed directly to the right. "Just over there." He informed her before starting down the stone path, shoving his hands into his jacket pockets. It was still rather chilly out despite it being mid-march and Sabo really missed the Texas heat at times like this. Sabo had a good feeling that Boston was far from done with snow, too, and that they were probably due another snowstorm before the month was out. Ugh.

Passing small, old, weathered, stone graves, they approached a boulder with a metal plate, greened with age, bolted to the front of it. Sabo stopped on the pathway before it and read aloud "Here lies buried Samuel Adams, Signer of the Declaration of Independence, Governour of this Commonwealth, a Leader of Men, and an ardent Patriot. Born 1722, died 1803." His eyes pulled away from the text to examine the area about the stone. There were little American flags stuck into the dirt around the headstone as well as a small bouquet of flowers on the ground in front of it. Sabo wondered what the hell he was supposed to be looking for.

Sabo stepped over the low chain acting as a fence as he looked at the grave more closely. Robin joined him on the other side of the fence, pausing only a moment before deciding to circle the headstone while he looked over the aged metal marker next to the grave. Sabo crouched down to get a closer look at things, furrowing his eyebrows.

"Anything?" Robin asked, coming to stand next to him once more.

"Not yet," Sabo admitted, feeling weird for snooping. He picked to the small bouquet of flowers and inspected them before sighing, replacing them to the ground, and standing so that he could stretch his legs once more.

"See if something catches your eyes. You're probably better at this than me." Sabo admitted, stepping back over the fence to approach the information plaque about Samuel Adams positioned along the fence nearby.

After reading over the tablet once more, Sabo sighed and rubbed his hands over his face. "Think think," he muttered to himself. Maybe there was something underneath it? Deciding to give it a shot, Sabo lowered himself to the ground, set his messenger bag to the side, lay down on the ground, and looked up at the underside of the information table. Nothing but cobwebs, dirt, grass clippings, and gum. Gross.

"Hey, Sabo. Check this out." Robin beckoned him over.

Sabo grunted, easing himself back onto his feet, slinging the messenger bag back over his shoulder, and then crossing the few feet back over to the grave. Robin looked up as he approached and held up what looked to be a film canister. "Look like something your friend would leave behind?" She asked.

"Oh _yeah_ , she would." Sabo nodded, quickening his pace and stepping over the fence, circling around to the backside of the grave to stand next to her.

"Well, it's got your name on it." Robin mused, glancing at the cap before handing it over to him.

"Where did you find it?" Sabo asked, looking over the canister before popping open the lid to look inside.

"Wedged back here," Robin explained, poking at the deep, shadowed corner on the right side of the grave when Sabo looked back over at her.

Sabo made a soft sound of intrigue before looking back at the canister and peering inside. There was another piece of paper. "Damn it Koala. You probably had _way_ to much fun with this," he grumbled, stepping around the grave and heading back to the path. "I swear to god if this is just another clue leading to another clue…" he stepped over the chain to the pathway, fishing the rolled up paper from the canister. It became immediately clear to him that it was a printed map of the city. Sabo frowned and started to wander down the path around to the right side of the cemetery. He unfolded the map piece to discover an X marked on a spot in Beacon Hill as well as a number written down beneath it. It was probably a house number. A second more of pondering and Sabo halted his step "Oh! This is, like, a ten minute walk from here." Sabo gauged.

Robin held out her hand for the map and Sabo let her take it. She glanced over it, nodding slightly in agreement.

"Do we walk or drive?" Sabo asked, stuffing his hands back into the pockets of his jacket and following the path to the backside of the cemetery. Now that he was here, he could remember some of the specifics of the last time he'd been there. It was when Kid had first moved to Boston and they'd toured the city together, walking the Freedom Trail. Kid didn't have as much of an appreciation for the history of Revolutionary Era Boston as Sabo did, but it had been a good opportunity for him to get to know his surroundings better. Several other important early revolutionary historical figures were also buried at the Granary Burial Grounds like Paul Revere, John Hancock, and the victims of the Boston 'Massacre.'

"I say walk." Robin decided. "We can leave the car for now. It's a company car and I don't entirely trust driving it to wherever this place is. We can come back for it and take it Celestial later, but I think it's best if it remains where it is for now." Robin beckoned Sabo to follow her as she started back towards the entrance of the cemetery.

"I wouldn't put it past Outlook to have a tracking system in the car, so that's probably a good call." Sabo agreed, hurrying to follow her and mourning the lost opportunity to look around at the other graves again. "Speaking of, what about…" Sabo began looking down at his bag and thinking about all the things inside that had previously been in Outlook's keeping.

"I checked it all over. You're good now." Robin assured him, leading him down the steps and back out onto the sidewalk. Sabo still felt anxious about it but he trusted Robin. He did feel better knowing that he probably wasn't bugged with tracking devices right now or anything. He'd been exceptionally paranoid about it for the last six months, especially after he'd found the small tracker in his shoe once back in September. The constant feeling of having eyes watching his every move refused to go away after that. He made sure to check every nook and cranny of every piece of clothing he'd packed that morning to make sure that none of them still hid tracking devices anywhere. Robin had even bought him a new pair of converse to put on just so that they could be sure that no one had opened up his old pair to glue a tracker inside of it somewhere again. Sabo hated feeling paranoid like that. Sabo would probably end up checking the contents of his bag anyway, just in case. He had to see it for himself to fully put himself at ease. He started fishing through his bag as they walked.

"I recognize this street," Robin mused, looking up at all the tall brick buildings on each side of the road.

"Yeah?" Sabo asked, wishing he had a screwdriver so that he could crack open his laptop to see if there was anything inside of it. That was probably a terrible idea because he knew nothing about how computers work.

"Franky lives out here," Robin informed him, turning her gaze back over to him. She looked slightly exasperated but understanding as he replaced his laptop and continued to root through his bag as they walked.

"And how do you know where Franky lives?" Sabo asked, deciding to put it to rest for now and zipping his bag back up. He glanced at the house numbers and realized they were getting close.

"We're previously acquainted. I used to teach at MIT." Robin revealed.

"Small world." Sabo mused, pushing his messenger bag back so that it rested on the back of his hip once more. "But, a professor at MIT turned FBI Agent, body guard, spy. That's quite the shift." Sabo commented as Robin stopped, staring up at the numbers above a door. They'd arrived.

"Other way around, actually," Robin said. Movement caught Sabo's eye as a curtain fell back into place at a window on one of the upper floors. They started up the stairs to the door. "I retired to be a teacher, but I got pulled back when an old case of mine resurfaced." She revealed.

"And what was that?" Sabo asked, curious, but feeling as though he probably knew the answer already.

"Take a guess." Robin glanced at him out of the corner of her eye, lips rising into a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes. She rang the doorbell.

"Celestial." Sabo sighed under his breath.

Robin hummed in confirmation as a set of footsteps made their way to the front door.

The door opened to reveal someone that Sabo didn't recognize. Sabo furrowed his eyebrows, not sure how to introduce themselves and stuttered out an "Um, hi," as Sabo took in the appearance of the tall man with long black hair and a deep set of furrowed eyebrows that gave him a permanent scowl. The face tattoo did nothing to help his image.

"Are you Sabo?" a thickly accented voice asked and Sabo suddenly felt nostalgic. It was definitely Brazilian.

"I am," Sabo confirmed.

"Come inside." The man commanded, stepped aside to let them in.

Sabo glanced at Robin, who looked back at him. Her face was stoic and betrayed nothing of what she was feeling. Sabo sucked it up and stepped inside.

"Can I get you anything to drink? We have coke, at the mechanic's insistence, and water. I can also make tea or coffee." The man stiffly offered.

"I'll have a coke." Sabo requested. Mechanic? Coke? Did that mean Franky? What the hell? Was Franky involved in this, too? Okay, Franky made sense because he worked closely with Kid, but Sabo swore to god if just about every goddamn person he knew was in on this now, he was going to strangle each and every one of them for putting themselves in danger for him.

"If it's not too much trouble, I'll have coffee." Robin requested.

"Make yourselves comfortable." The man said and then vanished into the kitchen.

The sound of footsteps hurrying down the stairs caught Sabo's attention, and he turned to face them. "Sabo!" Two voices exclaimed as they shoved past each other to make it down the stairs. One body collided with Sabo's causing him to stumble slightly, two arms wrapping snugly around his neck. "You made it!" a feminine voice said closer to his ear.

"Koala!" Sabo recognized, still gathering his wits back about him as he recovered from the surprise. She pulled away and held him at arm's length to get a good look at him. "You're here?" Sabo meant to exclaim, but it ended up coming out as for of a question.

Koala stepped back and gave him a once over as Kid calmly same to stand beside her despite the rush he had made to make it down the stairs to see him "You look thin." Kid remarked with a frown.

Sabo looked down, pursing his lips as he rubbed his stomach lightly. He hesitated for a moment "I… skipped meals from time to time… to avoid my family, y'know?" He admitted quietly before adding, "…some of the time…" under his breath. Part of it was avoidance, but sometimes it was because meals had been withheld from him as punishment and he had to resort to sneaking into the kitchen to mooch a meal off of the willing cooks later. He'd been caught once and that had resulted in him being locked in his room for a week. The chef from that dad had been fired. Another part of it stemmed from the restricted diet they'd placed him on because Outlook and his wife had accused him of being flabby and fat and in need of one, even though Sabo knew that that was far from the case. He was completely confortable in the way he looked. He was still considered slim by many, but he'd never been quite good enough for those two. Sabo had to remind himself every day that the way he looked was fine and it didn't matter what his not-parents thought of it. But it did. And that's what frustrated Sabo the most, just like everything else about Outlook. He still had so much sway over his emotions, actions, and mental state that it was embarrassing and frustrating that he couldn't do more to fight it. Why did they have to have a short cut through his brain that channeled immediately into obedience and insecurity? He was a grown man, for god's sake.

Kid's scowl deepened, "It's a good thing we're going to be tearing these sons of bitches a new one soon. They all deserve worse than jail. If I had it my way, there'd be a wrench embedded in those fucker's skulls already."

The man who'd let them in returned with a can of coke in one hand, holding it out for Sabo to take before retreating back into the kitchen. Sabo frowned and peered at the can. Robin stared thoughtfully after the man, obviously trying to place who he was in her head.

Sabo turned his attention to the living room and approached the couch, flopping himself down onto it. "So, give me the details. What've we got?" Sabo asked, desperate to change the subject. "How did you," Sabo gestured to Koala, "Get tangled up in this? And who is the guy I the kitchen? What is this place? All of that." he took a drink of his soda.

Robin perched herself in the arm chair by the TV and Koala turned to look at Kid, who nodded and stepped away to run back upstairs, saying "I'll get Apoo to come down."

Koala turned her attention back to Sabo and then took a seat on the couch next to him, "It was by chance, actually." She began, pulling her feet up onto the couch so that she could sit cross-legged. "I got an internship working as a photographer for a magazine headquartered in New York. I was working at a side office in Arizona as a glorified unpaid secretary or some bullshit work that companies like to make unpaid interns do for them. I managed to lobby for myself hard enough and impressed them enough with my work that they eventually agreed to pay to send me to New York for a project of my choosing. They gave me a list of events in the city and told me to pick three. I recognized the name attached to one of the events on the list easily enough and asked to go to your gala as one of the ones I wanted to work. So, once I secured that opportunity, I got in contact with Robin," she glanced over at the taller woman as she said "this was just before your application to join Outlook's security team went though, yes?"

Robin nodded in confirmation.

"Yeah. So I told her that I'd be at that event and that I'd be willing to work as an in-between. She wasn't sure yet at the time if she'd be able to work her way into being one of your personal body guards by then yet, and it was better for the whole operation if she wasn't aware of anything going on on the outside anyway. So, she put me in contact with Franky and I—"

"Wait, why Franky?" Sabo asked.

"Franky because Franky was the one she had contact with in the outside world. From Franky you get contact with Kid who is working with Apoo on the AI part of the plan and so on." Koala explained, pausing to see if Sabo had anything else to say about it before continuing, but Sabo gestured for her to go on, satisfied with her answer. That made sense. "So Franky and I started working on a plan for what to give you when I came out to New York for the photography opportunities. Good news is, I've got a job when I graduate college this semester now."

"Congrats. But, where does our host come into this, then?" Sabo asked, glancing to the kitchen and seeing he man standing there in the doorway, leaning against the frame with his arms crossed over his chest while he listened. Sabo was slightly startled to see him there. The man looked about to speak, but there was a heavy knock on the front door that drew him away. He said nothing.

"That's Luffy's dad," Koala whispered.

Sabo snap turned to look back at her, eyes wide. " _What!?_ " he hissed quietly " _That's_ Luffy's _dad_!?"

"He got a house in Boston to use as a headquarters for our operations. He's helping us out." Koala informed him.

"But _why_?" Sabo asked, incredibly baffled by the situation "Last I heard he was still locked up in a Brazilian jail with his brother for being the leaders of a _crime syndicate_."

"Hey guys!" a voice boomed from the doorway as Franky burst into the living room with a box under each arm "I made it and I've got everything we need now! Oh! Sabo! It's _super_ good to see you again! Glad you could make it! I guess I'm right on time then."

"Hey, Franky." Sabo greeted with a smile.

"Luffy wants you to call him ASAP. " Franky informed him, setting the boxes down next to the coffee table in the living room as Kid returned from upstairs with Apoo in tow and likewise carrying a box of things.

"I'll call him after," Sabo promised. He'd prefer to call him sooner rather than later but they had things to do. It'd be best to contact him after everything has blown over. Franky nodded and went to the kitchen, presumably to retrieve a coke for himself.

Right now, there were so many unanswered questions whirling around Sabo's brain as he looked from person to person. It was such a strange collection of people, too. So, he decided to start simple. He looked at Koala. "So. First, Congrats on the job. And, second, that didn't explain why you are in Boston _now_. You don't have classes or work to do or something?"

Koala shook her head "Nope. It's Spring Break. I came out from New York to set your clue before I headed back to Arizona now that my internship is over. I was hoping I might be able to help out and here you are. I was supposed to leave in two days."

Speaking of help, "Then how did he get roped into this?" Sabo asked, nodding his head towards Luffy's dad as the man walked back in, handing Robin the coffee she'd asked for.

"Dragon." The man corrected.

"What?" Sabo asked, caught off guard.

"I have a name. It's Dragão but it means Dragon, so just call me that," the Brazilian man elaborated, moving to the wall to lean against it.

"So then, Dragon, how did you get involved in all of this?" Sabo asked.

"Jump used to be my company." Dragon answered, his Brazilian accent coating his words thickly.

"Jump?" Sabo asked, digging through his memory for what that might have been.

"My company was developing One Piece before _Outlook_ cheated us out of it. It wasn't my decision at all." Dragon growled, the name sounding like a curse on his lips. That did not at all sound like what Coby had said it had gone down like. Or anything hat his research long ago had turned up about it. But then again, he hadn't been looking for anything suspicious. Sabo vaguely remembered something about a failing company that needed the money and had to sell it to Outlook, who then turned around and had it absorbed into Celestial for resources and further funding to get the project off the ground, but that? "They only grabbed it for the Dragon headset technology. I'm surprised they even moved forward with the game, let alone kept the name."

"Then how the hell did you get tangled up in Brazilian crime and get thrown in jail, leaving Luffy on his own for as long as he can remember? He's seventeen now, y'know? Almost 18, in fact! Roger wrote Ace and yet there was complete radio silence from _you_." Sabo furrowed his eyebrows, shifting on the couch to sit sideways so that he could comfortably stare at Dragon. Dragon sighed heavily, clearly not pleased with this interrogation. Sabo only narrowed his eyes further. "And why aren't you with him now? Why are you in Boston? Have you even talked to him yet?"

"This is not a discussion that we're going to be having right now." Dragon snapped. "Or ever. Point is. I'm intimately familiar with One Piece's base code. I programmed it myself. Things are vastly different now than they were a decade ago, but I can still probably navigate my way through the code easily enough. More than he can," Dragon said, gesturing to Apoo, "but he's certainly been useful. He knows what he's doing and he's more familiar with recent technology than I am considering my prior situation. But the point still stands that you need my help if you're going to get this done fast."

Sabo was not satisfied with Dragon's avoidance of the topic of Luffy. He was going to get an answer out of him eventually. It was only fair to his brother. But he'd let it slide for now. He glanced at the time and recognized that Dragon was right though, now was definitely not the time for that discussion. It was almost one o'clock. He relented "Okay then. Fine. So. What all have you guys got here?" he asked, looking at all the boxes.

"Well, Robin managed to dig up the building plans for the Celestial's huge ass Campus." Kid informed him, pulling a thick roll of papers out of the box he and Apoo had brought down. He extracted one of the stacks from the set and smoothed it out over the coffee table. The top page referenced the top floor of Outlook Labs. Sabo could assume that each page references each floor. He released it and it curled back up. "So we know the whole fuckin' layout of the building now and where we need to go."

"I've also memorized all of the security details of the building from cameras to patrol schedules, and anything else that we might need to make sure that all of our background operations on this mission go smoothly," Robin explained. "You don't need to worry too much about most of that since getting _you_ in is supposed to be easy seeing as how you need to be playing it off like you're _supposed_ to be there. It's getting you access to the things you don't currently have access to that will be the difficult part on your end. Let's hope that the act you've been putting on for the last six-seven months hasn't been in vain."

"God, I hope not. You have no idea how many times I've had to refrain from Punching Stelly's lights out. If this was all for nothing then I regret every single time I convinced myself not to." Sabo growled. "What else have you guys learned?"

"Well, we looked for a possible basement like the one that you said there might be, but we couldn't find one anywhere in the original building plans," Koala explained.

Kid picked up where she left off saying, "But we did find more recent building records that state that the basement was added in in the last decade," He fished out another page of the building plans and held it up "Which is pretty fuckin' suspicious, in my opinion. That green-haired chicken guy might be on to something."

"Jason Liebrecht went missing just over three years ago and later turned up dead," Robin hummed "Fits well within the timeline."

"And he's only the first victim that we _know_ of." Sabo agreed, watching as Apoo settled himself on the ground with his laptop, seeming to only be half paying attention. Sabo wasn't sure if they could trust the musician, honestly. "But if Jason was only snooping because he'd caught wind of the same things that I had, it means he was definitely not the first and that also fits well within the timeline if that's the case."

Sabo caught sight of Dragon's scowl as his eyes swept the room and Sabo had to wonder what the man was thinking. He just had too many questions about the man right now, but it was obvious he wasn't going to cave anytime soon – if ever. Sabo knew that if he were in Dragon's shoes about this particular thing, however, he'd probably be pissed that a thing he'd created was being used to experiment and kill people with.

Franky picked up the conversational ball from there to add "We've also figured out how to extract and preserve complex AI and have them remain functional, but Kid and I are still working on a _super_ prototype for what we can put them into once we've extracted them."

"It might be a bit before we have anything solid to work with," Kid continued, "But Brook is willing to be our guinea pig for whatever shit we eventually come up with."

"We still going to be able to get Brook and Marshall's help to navigate the building and the system once we get there?" Sabo asked.

"We will," Apoo finally contributed. "I can't extract them yet, but I have a way to modify Brooks' code so that he can gain access to the computers on the outside, gain access to security, operate the cameras, and direct you on where to go and what to look out for. Marshall will be able to guide you through the encryptions to gain access to anything top secret that can be used against them."

Sabo took a deep breath, running his hand through his hair as he processed everything that they'd just told him. "Well then. What time is it?"

"One-thirty," Dragon informed them. "We're gonna have to make this quick."

"Alright, team, Let's break down the plan so that we're all on the same page when we get out of here." Sabo sighed, sitting up and taking a long swig of his coke before setting it down on the coffee table and began to talk.

* * *

A/N: I remember someone asked me way back around, like, chapter 4 if Dragon was going to be a part of this fic. I told them no, but that decision lasted approximately 4 days and so here we are, a year of waiting later and Dragon has arrived with a cryptic story. I need to limit myself on hinting at plot devices, like, 15 chapters in advance. But I think having them so far back that no one remembers them anymore is half the fun.

My American Revolution/Founding Era history buff side reared its ugly head in this chapter. Don't even get me started. I could talk for _days_.

Thank you all so much for your continued support! Your favorites, follows, and reviews all mean the world to me and make my days brighter when I receive them.

Finals are coming up in 3 weeks so the next chapter might be a bit delayed because I have a lot of work to get done, but I'm planning on polishing up and then throwing out a bunch of one-shots/drabbles alongside the next chapter or before it depending on what kind of progress I've made. You all deserve it for your patience with me this school year.

Next Time: Unforeseen Circumstances.

To be Continued...


	22. Ch 22: The Plan Prt 4

A/N: WOW, okay. So. I'm so sorry this took so long! Life got away from me and I had to make choices when it came to my priorities. I greatly appreciate all of your patience with me and hope that you're all still on board with this fic. I know it's been 9 months since the last update. I'm so sorry. Here's the longest chapter to date for you as compensation. I'll have some more to discuss after the chapter.

Many many many thanks to the wonderful evaienna for editing this chapter and for agreeing to edit future chapters! Bless you.

Without Further Ado...

* * *

 **Chapter 22**

"Are you ready, Sabo?" Robin asked, looking into the rear-view mirror as Sabo got himself situated in the back seat once more.

Nodding, Sabo finished buckling his seat belt and confirmed, "Yeah, let's head out."

Robin dropped her sunglasses back down over her eyes and then shifted the car into drive, pulling out of their parking spot and taking to the streets in order to navigate their way to Celestial's campus.

"So, what's the deal with Dragon, do you know anything about him? You were looking pretty thoughtful back there, figured you might be on to something." Sabo asked, glancing out the window to watch the cityscape scroll by.

"I was just remembering some of the things that I had come across back in the day when I was conducting my original investigation," Robin explained.

There was a moment of pause as Sabo waited to see if Robin would continue on her own before prompting "And what's that?"

Another moment passed in silence before Robin answered, "I didn't make the connection before he mentioned it himself, but if what he's telling us is the actual truth then there were some underhanded tactics at play back then." Robin suggested. "From what I understood before, Swasey was the original owner of Jump and had been the one to sell it to Outlook. But, if Dragon was the one who was originally in charge of the company than that changes things."

"So you're saying there was a cover-up," Sabo filled in, rubbing his chin thoughtfully.

"Do you know anything about Dragon's situation? Anything at all? Did your brothers ever tell you something that might be some sort of clue?" Robin prompted.

Sabo frowned, thinking back. "They didn't know much, so I don't know much. Some eleven or twelve years ago Dragon and his brother Roger were arrested in Brazil on their way back from the states for egregious crimes in association with the mafia. A year later, their grandfather was bringing Luffy and Ace stateside where I would eventually meet them. Neither of them remembered their fathers and neither of them really knew their mothers either. It was always just the two of them, even when they were staying with other people. That's all I know."

Robin frowned. Sabo stopped to think about what the information that they _did_ have suggested about the situation in regards to Celestial and laid out the timeline in his head. Dragon and Roger were jailed just over a decade ago, Swasey sold Jump to Outlook a couple years after that, Outlook's company was absorbed into Celestial, within a few years - the basement was built, and roughly a couple years after that Jason Liebrecht was found dead. Things certainly lined up to some extent. If Dragon was, indeed, the original owner then… "Are we suggesting that their arrests were staged? It was all a setup?" Sabo asked, glancing into the rear-view to meet Robin's obscured eyes.

"It's certainly a possibility" Robin agreed, "If Dragon and Swasey were business partners, and if Roger perhaps had a part in it all as well, but Swasey wanted the company all for himself so that he might reach the end result he has found himself at…" Robin left the thought hanging in the air for Sabo to finish himself.

"Is Celestial really that powerful? Was _Swasey_ really that powerful? So powerful that they could just—frame Dragon and Roger to make it look like they were the part of a powerful Brazilian Mafia in order to lock them up in jail the rest of their lives for crimes that they didn't commit? Why go _that far_ to get them out of the picture? It seems a little extreme… that is… unless there's something even deeper at play that we're not even _aware of_ yet." Sabo sat back, running his fingers over the scar over his blind eye. "Good god. This sounds absolutely ridiculous, you know? A year ago I might have spit at the idea of a company being this powerful, but now? It sounds entirely plausible to me and that _scares_ me."

"It's certainly not an easy prospect to stomach," Robin agreed.

Sabo thought about the whole situation a little bit more but couldn't help his thoughts straying to Ace and Luffy. He voiced his concerns with "What were Dragon and Roger going in America _without_ Ace and Luffy? Why did they just leave them behind like that? And what about Garp? It almost seems to me now like he'd gone back to Brazil for the purpose of getting them out and cleared and that that's why we haven't seen him in so long, but... how did he do it? How did he even know?"

"It's not our place to put reason to Dragon's actions," Robin reminded him, "You'd have to ask him yourself."

Sabo sighed in frustration. "Everything about this entire situation is absolute shit," he grumbled.

"And it's probably only going to get significantly worse from here." Robin supplied.

"Do you always have to be the worst kind of pessimist?" Sabo groaned.

"If you expect the worse than you're never disappointed, just pleasantly surprised when things go well." Robin mused.

* * *

It was almost three in the afternoon when Robin and Sabo finally began to draw near the Celestial Campus. They were really pushing their luck with Stelly catching on to Sabo's lie and it wasn't going to be long before Outlook realized that there would be no one there to pick him up in an hour.

Sabo fit two wireless earphones into his ears and then clipped the small, wireless microphone into the inside of his half-zipped hoodie-jacket. He smoothed out his clothing and said "Sabo checking in, can you hear me? Are we in range?"

"Yup, I can hear you." Koala's voice responded in his right ear. The left earpiece wasn't functioning like the other, only used to make it look like he had in a set of wireless headphones in his ears instead of a communication device. "Robin?"

"Loud and clear," Robin confirmed.

"Got it. Status team two?" Koala's voice crackled again.

"Dragon and I are in position A," Apoo confirmed.

"We'll update when we get to position B. Just give us the signal that we're in and we'll get to work," Dragon added, voice slightly distant sounding.

"Great, that's everyone," Koala confirmed.

"Just remember, if you need me to knock in a few skulls I _will_ come running." Kid added from where he observed the situation in a big van with Koala.

"Hopefully, that won't be necessary." Sabo sighed as the car pulled into the Celestial parking lot.

Robin stopped the car by the sidewalk, allowing Sabo to climb out of the car. He shut the door and watched as Robin drove off to find a place to park. Since it would be inconsistent with the past if he were to go anywhere without being shadowed by a bodyguard, he stood in place and waited. He shoved his hands into his pockets, smoothing his fingers over the flash drive in his pocket apprehensively. There was another attached to his keys. Each of the flash drives served a purpose. Neither of the ones Sabo had on him was the flash drive containing all of his research because that would be absurd. They couldn't risk losing _everything_ in the event that things go horribly awry. Instead, the flash drive attached to his keys was a blank one and the one in his pocket contained a program that would allow Dragon and Apoo a way into the system. This one was going to go into the hands of someone who wasn't Sabo but instead to someone on the inside who they could trust and had access to one of the computers. Hopefully, he would arrive just in time to catch him on his way to work today.

After passing off the flash drive, Sabo was to make his way up to his father's office on his fake story and see if he can find any files up there on anything that could possibly be used as evidence. When he'd first entered that office, he had seen the files on Marshall Teach on the desk, so there was a chance that there might be other files or documents that could be used as evidence somewhere in there. While he was doing that, Dragon and Apoo were to release Brook and Teach's AIs in order to both navigate the system _and_ counter Crocodile's actions. Robin was to take control of the security monitoring room and keep a lookout until Brook had a handle on the cameras. Sabo was to gain access to the basement by getting his handprints authorized for the elevator. Since his handprint was already in the system, it would be Dragon and Apoo's job to fix his permissions. Once he finally made it into the basement he was to get through security and then find further proof of everything that was going on down there, putting any digital files found onto the flash drive on his keys, before getting the hell out of there in one piece.

Easy enough, right?

Sabo turned his gaze to look up at the large dragon skeleton looming next to him. The magic of the sight had worn off over the months, but it was still one of his favorite things to look at, all things considered. What could top a giant dragon skeleton wearing a headset and covered in garden gnomes?

In order to distract his thoughts and keep himself from stressing out too much about the task at hand, he stepped forward and began to circle the setup. He eyed one of the closer gnome statues, crouching to get a better look at it. They were all those incredibly stereotypical guys with flopping red hats, long white beards, and rosy cheeks. There were so many of them and all of them were exactly the same. Where had they even gone to buy garden gnomes in bulk? Who's idea was it? It really was a shame that something as cool as all of that belonged to such a vile company.

Footsteps interrupted his thoughts, drawing Sabo's gaze upwards to see Robin approaching him. He stood and nodded a greeting, which she returned. Sabo turned on his heel and began to make his way down the familiar sidewalk paths to Outlook labs.

It took some effort for Sabo to school his actions at first, having to remind himself that if he were fidgety then it would be suspicious. He took a deep breath in and then slowly released it, relaxing into an upright posture Outlook had all but beat back into him in the last few months.

Business as usual.

A spike of green hair caught Sabo's eyes and he picked up his pace, "Barto!" he called out in order to get the man's attention. Just in time. Perfect.

The man paused and turned, a drink holder of hot beverages from the main office in his hands. He spotted Sabo and lit up "Sabo! 'Sup! We weren't expectin' ya today." He stopped to allow Sabo a chance to catch up to him on the sidewalk.

"Mr. Outlook forgot something in his office, he sent me to pick it up." Sabo smoothly lied, pulling the unused earpiece from his left ear in order to give the appearance of him taking out one earbud to focus on the conversation.

"Ah, I can take you up to the office if ya need me to." Barto offered, starting to walk down the sidewalk again.

"Nah. I've got the keys so there's no need for you to go out of your way for that. But, there _is_ something that I was hoping you could do for me." Sabo allowed, following after Barto at a slower pace.

Barto perked up, eyes lighting up excitedly, "I'll do anything Luffy's brother would ask of me."

"Are you sure this is advisable?" Robin whispered, leaning close to whisper into his ear. Barto began to practically quiver with excitement. He kinda reminded Sabo of a dog.

"We don't exactly have any other options. It'll be fine." Sabo assured her, pulling his hand out of his pocket. The flash drive fell to the ground and Sabo stopped. "Whoops."

"I got it!" Barto yelled, stopping Sabo as he bent down to pick it up and bent down himself, the tray of drinks raised above his head.

"I'm gonna need you to plug that into one of the computers," Sabo whispered as Barto picked up the flash drive. "Make sure it doesn't get seen and that you don't get caught doing it." Barto stood up, flash drive in hand. "If this all goes well, I'll even let you meet Luffy as thanks," Sabo suggested.

An excited but almost inhuman sound came out of Barto's throat as he nodded enthusiastically, "Consider it done. Would you like some tea? I got an extra for later but you can have it." He offered, taking one of the four cups from the tray and holding it out to Sabo with the hand that still held the flash drive.

"Oh, thanks." Sabo accepted, taking the cup.

"I won't let you down!" Barto said, picking up his pace and rushing off to the office, shoving his hand in his pocket to extract his phone, checking the time, before replacing it and the flash drive to his pocket.

A voice crackled through the earpiece, "That's the guy you were talking about? My faith in this mission has officially collapsed in its entirety. Are we _sure_ we can rely on him?" Koala's voice murmured.

"Don't worry about it," Sabo assured her, looking at Robin as he said it. "He may be an idiot but we can count on him to do his part. We just…. Have to hope he doesn't get caught in the act." Sabo really hoped that the man wouldn't accidentally screw this all up.

"He's going to get caught and they're going to kill him." Robin sighed, gesturing ahead of them to indicate that they should get moving again.

"Don't jinx us." Sabo hissed, resuming their path towards Outlook Labs at a pace slower than the pace Barto had set ahead of them. He took a drink of the tea in his hands and assessed that it was a little bit too bitter for his taste but not intolerable. Could use another packet of sugar. He fit the second earpiece back into his ear and checked the time on his watch. He missed the old digital watch that Ace had given him in high school and hated the hunk of metal given to him by Outlook. The man had taken one look at the ragged, singed, cheap watch that Sabo had been wearing for four years and declared that it was a piece of trash any son of his couldn't be caught _dead_ wearing. He took it from him by force and Sabo could do nothing to stop him. Now it was gone forever. The watch Sabo was wearing now was given to him as a replacement and Outlook yelled at him anytime he went out without it in protest. Sabo was selling it as soon as he got out of this mess. It hurt to acknowledge that Outlook had probably thrown away his old watch. There was no hope of ever getting it back. Another piece of Ace just… gone. Sabo frowned, a twinge of pain shocking through him. He could still remember how nervous Ace had been when he gave him the watch for his birthday. The strap of the one Sabo had before Ace's had snapped, so he'd been wearing one of those old snap bracelets just to have something on his wrist in its stead. It had felt wrong not to have at least _something_ there. Sabo had kept habitually checking the bracelet for the time, though, so Ace had just… gotten him a new watch. God, not a day passed that Sabo didn't miss him.

A chime brought Sabo back to the present, the doors of the elevator sliding open before him. He willed his feet forwards and stepped into the elevator, swallowing down the well of emotion that started bubbling up within him. Thoughts of Ace always caught him by surprise. They happened unexpectedly and unplanned. They hurt. Sabo wished that they would show up at more convenient times but no one gets to choose when those kinds of things happen.

"Are you alright?" Robin asked as the doors closed behind them and she pressed the button for the top floor, "You spaced out for a second there."

"Yeah… I just… yeah. I'll…be fine." Sabo shook his head to clear it, staring down at the disposable cup of tea in his hands. He needed to be mentally present for this mission. He couldn't afford to get sucked back into negative headspace. This wasn't the _time_. A deep breath in. 1…2…3… and exhale. He repeated the process and reminded himself of what it was that needed to be done.

The elevator door opened upon arrival at the top floor and they stepped out and into the small lobby area. Sabo waved to the secretary at the front desk as he passed before pulling the keys from his pocket by the lanyard and tossing the tea into the trash can. As he walked, he sifted through the keys until he found the one that went to the door of Outlook's office. He glanced over at Robin as he fit the key into the lock. He nodded to her and she nodded back before stepping to the side while Sabo entered the room without her, closing the door behind him. Robin's job now was to monitor the security cameras until an AI got control of them. She was to watch the cameras for any approaching danger and alert him to it or to let him know if any part of their plan was going awry… like Barto getting caught or someone realizing what was going on. He needed to try and find any files in the meantime as quickly as possible without alerting anyone to his intentions just yet. Not this early on in the mission.

Sabo let out a breath and approached the filing cabinet in the back corner of the room. It was tall, metal, and each drawer had a lock on it. The keys for the drawers weren't on the keyring, Sabo knew that much, but thankfully he'd been in here with his father often enough to know where those keys were. Sabo wheeled around to the desk and fumbled underneath the flat surface for the thin pull out drawer that he knew was hidden there. His fingers caught the lip of the drawer and he pulled, revealing its contents. The keys were there. He picked them up and returned to the filing cabinet, testing each of the keys until he found the right one for the top drawer. He pulled it out and glanced inside. Careful not to make his actions too suspicious until Robin gave the clear, Sabo sifted through the files. They couldn't know that he was snooping where he shouldn't be snooping.

"We've got access to the computers now, working on extracting the AI," Apoo's voice sounded in his ear.

Sabo closed the drawer and opened the next one, sifting through the files with his fingers. He feigned a subtle "Ah ha!" moment and pulled out a file on the latest business stats for the last quarter, flipping through it as if checking to see if it was really the one that he was looking for.

The sound of a grunt in his ear was followed by a loud crackle in the microphone that nearly made him flinch. He rubbed at the scar under his eye and closed the folder. "Robin?"

"We are clear. I'm watching the cameras now." Robin grunted and a thump filtered over the mic. "We have to move quickly before this guy wakes up. See if you can find anything and then we have to move on. I'll see what I can do with him."

"Got it." Sabo acknowledged, snapping the folder closed and shoving it back into the space it had previously occupied in the cabinet. He started to quickly rifle through all of the papers. Sales numbers, sales numbers, employee information. He closed the drawer, careful not to slam it, then opened up the top one again. Taxes, contracts, legal documents. He shuffled quickly through the files themselves just in case they were hidden in unrelated folders. Nothing. He closed it and opened the bottom drawer, getting down on the ground to look. He found the right key and opened it, sifting through the documents, but nothing was relevant. Sabo let out a groan of frustration, running both of his hands through his hair and holding them there. He pushed the drawer closed. "Nothing in the filing cabinets. Looking elsewhere." He informed them.

"You should think about making it quick," Robin informed him, sounding slightly concerned.

"What's up?" Sabo asked, crawling back to the desk and sorting through the things in the desk drawers while he sat on the floor.

"Your friend is not in a good situation. A green haired woman caught him crawling back out from under the desk. He's making excuses, but I don't think she's buying it. She's leaving him be for now but I'm skeptical of her actual intentions. I'll keep an eye on her."

"Shit," Sabo cursed under his breath, dropping everything back into the drawer. He went to push it closed once more but something white in the darkness caught his eye. He leaned forward and lowered his head to get a better view of the back of the desk. Maybe… "Hmm." Sabo hummed, pulling the drawer all the way out. He jostled it a little to dislodge it from its track and remove it from the desk entirely. He set it aside and there, in the back, he saw a metal sleeve attached to the back and a manilla folder with papers in it sticking out ever-so-slightly. He pulled the middle drawer off its tracks as well to get better access to the back of the desk.

"Sabo," Robin warned.

"Hold on. I think I've found something." Sabo insisted, reaching into the back of the desk to slide the files out of the slot that held them. "You just keep an eye on the situation."

"Dragon. Apoo. If they shut down the computer your program was plugged into, will you guys still be able to access what you need?" Robin asked.

Sabo sat back on his heels and looked at the folder in his hands. 'Potential Subjects'?

"Yes. We got remote control of the computer and transferred all of our programs to their central workspace. We're not in any of the computers anymore, we're in their cloud." Apoo explained.

"Good because they're shutting down that computer and green-haired girl is getting out her phone now," Robin announced.

"I've got something." Sabo interrupted. "I found it attached to the back of Outlook's Desk. It's a folder called 'Potential Subjects.'" Did that mean what Sabo thought it meant? He didn't have the time to sit there and read through all of them, but he set it on the ground, pulling out his phone which had been charged at least some before they left for the mission. He swiped over to the camera and took a picture of the cover, pages poking out of the folder. He flipped open the cover and took a picture of the first page, eyes catching the names of the fields as he went. Picture. Name. Date of Birth. Height. Weight. Hair Color. Eye Color. Address. Sabo flipped to the next page and took a picture of that one, his eyes taking in the information on the page pieces at a time as he flipped through the pages as quickly as possible. Description. Occupation. Skills. Family. He hoped that all of his pictures were steady and clear so that they could be read later.

"Sabo, you are going to need to start moving in the next few minutes. You've got enough, we need to get on to the next phase of the plan." Robin warned him.

"Hang on. Just. Getting pictures of these files. I'm almost done." Sabo had the sinking feeling in his stomach that the people listed in this file were all people that Celestial was considering they might kill for their experiment. Subject six, three pages. A vetting process, but what where they looking for in their 'subjects?' Subject Seven. Sabo froze.

"Sabo. They're bringing in security." Robin's voice was escalating with urgency. "They're going to know you're here and you have a hand in this."

"Kid! What are you—" Koala's voice crackled, but the words stopped registering in Sabo's mind, all noise fading out of his awareness as he focused in on the page before him.

It was him.

It was Sabo's own face staring back at him.

Potential Subject: Sabo Outlook III.

The phone fell out of Sabo's hands and thudded on the carpet. The sound jolted him back into the present moment, his breathing picking up. "Oh my god." He whispered. "Oh my god. Oh my god. Ohmygod—" Sabo tangled his hands in his hair and he could feel the ghost of his father's hand clutched around his neck, suffocating him. His breathing came in hard gasps, his whole chest heaving with it. "They're planning to kill me." He choked out.

Noise erupted in his ears, but Sabo hardly registered it.

"They're planning to kill me." He whispered again "he was—" Sabo's breath hitched.

"Sabo." A voice said in his ear and who knows how many times it was said before he heard it. "Sabo listen to me." Koala insisted. "Are you okay?"

Sabo shook his head and then remembered Koala couldn't see him "No. I… I'm in the file." He explained, voice shaking. "They have me down as a potential subject. They're planning to kill me. Who… who does that to their own son? What are they even trying to achieve?"

"Sabo. You don't have to worry about it anymore." Koala reminded him, voice soft and calm, "We're going to stop these monsters, remember? There's nothing to worry about. You're not going to die and these people are going to pay for what they've done. You're not his son."

Koala was right. "Yes, of course. Right. You're right." Sabo sighed, wiping his eyes with his sleeve. He was surprised when it came away wet. He sucked in a deep breath and began to rearrange the papers in the folder. Despite his words, he was still shaking. His shock slowly evolved into anger as he closed the folder and moved to shove it back into the holder at the back of the desk. "The mother fucker. Who the fuck does he think he is?"

"Hello~" the intercom above him chimed with a familiar singsong voice.

"Brook?" Sabo asked, momentarily calming as he cast his eyes towards the ceiling.

"That's me!" Brook chimed again "Aw! It's so good to see you again~. Ah… at least it would be… if I had any eyes! Yohohohoho! Oh-wait." The camera in the corner of the room began to move and refocus on where Sabo was crouched behind the desk. "I have _fake_ eyes~"

Sabo groaned and pressed his forehead to the edge of the desk, rolling his eyes. Of _course_ , he had to work in a joke. He slipped the file back into its sleeve and then began to put the drawers back into the desk. The door opened and Sabo's head shot up, expecting the worst but seeing Robin. Sabo sighed in relief relaxing against the desk as he stood. "God, you scared me for a second there." He loosely threw the keys to the filing cabinet back into their drawer as he looked up at her. "You could have knocked first."

Robin let the door close behind her before saying "Come on, let's go," gesturing towards the hallway.

"Brook? How do I get to the elevator leading to the basement?" Sabo asked, closing the drawer and looking around to make sure everything looked like it was in order.

"Judging by the security footage… if you take the back stairs, go out the maintenance doors to the secure section, and take the first right down that hallway, you'll find an elevator! That's the one you want." Brook informed them. "Good luck! Yohohohoho~ I'll keep an eye out for y—" Brook cut out abruptly.

"Brook?" Sabo called out. He waited. Nothing. "Shit." Sabo hissed. "Apoo? Dragon? Any idea what's going on with Brook?" Sabo asked, running a hand through his hair.

"Swasey." Dragon cursed. "Oh, I'm sorry, _Crocodile_. I can't believe the mother fucking son of a bitch actually did it. Keep going as planned. Focus on your mission. I'm going to work on getting Teach out. Apoo's handling your authorization."

"Got it," Sabo confirmed. Robin opened the door and gestured for him to leave. Hopefully, Brook would be okay.

"This way," Robin whispered, leading him down the hallway to the right. "Do you remember the directions?"

Sabo nodded in confirmation, tugging on his hoodie sleeves just to have something to do with his hands.

Robin led him to a door that led out into a stairwell and stopped him. "Take these stairs down to the first floor. The maintenance doors are on the right."

"Got it." Sabo nodded.

"Where do you go from there?"

"Maintenance doors, first right, elevator."

"Good. I'm going back to the security room to keep an eye on things. Go." Robin nodded to the door and stepped back. Sabo nodded back and then pushed the door open, leaving Robin behind.

Sabo started down the stairs, grateful that he only had to go down them and not up them because going up four flights of stairs surely would have killed him. He repeated the directions to the elevator to himself over and over again to make sure that he didn't forget them in transit or get distracted by other thoughts like 'Why the FUCK was his name on that list!?' Okay, chill. Not now. First floor, maintenance doors, first right, elevator.

The doors to the secure half of the building were locked with a handprint scanner. "Apoo. I need access to these doors ASAP."

"I'm _working_ on it." Apoo snapped.

"Security is distracted by Barto right now. You have time, but not much." Robin sounded in his ear, back in the security room right now.

"Just remember. We're going to lose contact with you when you get to the basement. We'll have eyes on you for the most part but we won't be able to keep you updated if something goes wrong. You'll be on your own." Koala reminded him.

Sabo took a deep breath and nodded "I understand."

"Got it!" Apoo exclaimed in his ear. "Try it now. Working on getting you access to the elevator now. Should be a lot easier now that I've found where all of the access Booleans are. Just have to figure out which elevator it is."

Sabo wasted no time placing his hand on the scanner, his heart rate pounding as he watched the bar scan up and down the screen underneath his hand. Oh, god, what if it didn't work and it set off all of the alarms? They would be doomed.

The screen flashed green and the electronic lock buzzed. He was in. Sabo let out a breath he didn't realize he was holding and pushed open the door. "First right, elevator down that hallway," Sabo whispered to himself as he took long strides down the concrete corridor. Sabo spotted his turn and took it, muttering "first right" to himself than asking "How are we going on getting me access to the elevator?"

"Give me five measures. I think I've found it." Apoo replied.

"Measures?" Sabo asked, scanning the walls ahead for anything that might look like an elevator door.

"120 bpm. 4/4 time." Apoo continued.

"English?" Sabo paused as he passed a large alcove on his right and turned his head, spotting a large set of elevator doors on the right-hand side with bathrooms across from them on the left.

"Doesn't matter. Found the Boolean. No to Yes and you're in!" Apoo informed him.

Sabo sucked in a breath and set his hand on the panel next to the elevator and hoped to god that this will work a second time.

The panel blinked green and the elevator door opened. He exhaled and stepped inside. "Code?" Sabo asked as he stared at the panel of floor numbers. The only ones listed were floors 1-4, no basement. He wondered if it was possible to get to the basement from any other floors of if he had to be on the first floor for it to work.

"2 - 4 - 1 - 1 - 3 - 2 - 4" Dragon recited.

Sabo repeated the numbers back as each one was read, pushing the corresponding floor button on the panel. Upon pressing the last one, a panel flipped and exposed a fingerprint reader.

"You should be authorized," Apoo informed him.

"Alright." One more time. Sabo chewed on his bottom lip, inhaling deeply as he pressed his thumb to the fingerprint scanner and watched the scanner do its work. It flashed green and the fingerprint scanner flipped back into hiding. Next to it, a small square on the panel slid open like elevator doors, exposing a 5th button. He pushed the new button for the basement floor and the elevator began to move.

Sabo stepped back until he reached the back wall of the industrial-sized elevator and relaxed against the railing with relief. Phase one complete. Now it was time for phase two. He needed to pretend like he belonged here, that he didn't need to be tailed by his bodyguard, and the people down there had to buy it. This was going to be the difficult part.

The lights flickered.

"Guys?" Sabo asked, his heart rate increasing steadily. He really hoped he was still connected.

The elevator shuttered.

Dragon growled something in Portuguese that Sabo recognized as being Not Nice Words. Not a good sign.

The elevator stuttered into a creaking halt, causing Sabo to stumble slightly. His grip on the bar at the back of the elevator all that kept him steady. Sabo froze and glanced around. Within the space of three heartbeats, he was plunged into total darkness. "Guys?" Sabo whispered into his microphone, nervously dragging out the word. "A little stuck here, can someone explain what's going on?"

A deep growl from the earpiece was all he heard in his ears and it was somehow twice as terrifying as anything else he'd experienced yet today. Dragon followed it by saying, "Sit tight. We'll get it back online. Swasey shut it down while Brook was busy making sure he didn't push us out."

Well, that explained things. "Got it," Sabo whispered into the stifling quiet of the void that surrounded him. He could hear every shift of fabric, every breath in and out, every creak of the metal death trap around him. After a moment, the emergency lights finally kicked in and Sabo had to squint to keep from being further blinded than he already was. His eyes slowly adjusted and it no longer felt as suffocating in the large industrial elevator. The quiet hum of the reddish-orange, flickering, industrial lights made him less inclined to feel like he might go crazy in the space of time it took to get the elevator moving again. The seconds ticked by in relative silence until he noticed Apoo's distant, out-of-tune humming in his ear. Had he been humming to himself this entire time?

All at once, the elevator shuttered back to life. The lights shifted from warm to cold as the power came back on. "Yoho! I did it!" the speaker of the elevator cheered. "But I can't hold Crocodile back for long. You should, at least, be able to make it to the bottom in time. He hasn't been able to get a warning out yet!"

"Oh, thank god you're okay, Brook. I was worried." Sabo sighed. "Just keep him back as long as you can."

"I'll do what I can! I won't fail the beloved brother of my Captain! You shall be victorious, I swear it on my life!" Brook declared. A pause. "Or… at least… I _would_ if I had a life~ Yohohoho! A.I. Jo—ACK—"

Sabo's head fell back against the back of the elevator with a soft _thump_ at the joke. Him cutting out again at that concerned him, though, "Brook?" nothing. "Just. Don't get yourself deleted, okay?"

No further words came through the intercom system. Sabo exhaled heavily and hoped it wasn't a horrible sign. On the upside, the elevator was moving again, which had to be a good sign, right? Sabo didn't fancy dying while trapped in an elevator.

The doors slid open as Sabo reached the bottom floor. He stepped out with purpose and approached the security checkpoint blocking the hallway from being accessed. There was a desk with a security guard clicking away on a monitor, metal detectors, and a wall of storage compartments. The air down there smelt like a hospital - sterile.

"Oh, uh, Mr. Outlook." The security guard looked up at him in surprise as he approached "What are you doing down here?" he started typing furiously on his computer. "I didn't know you—Oh. You do have access down here. Never mind." He blinked at the screen and then looked up at him. He looked back down with a hum. "What brings you down here?"

"My dad sent me down here to pick something up." Sabo lied, starting to pull things out of his pockets. "Can I pass?"

The guard placed a tray on the desk for Sabo to start placing his things into. "You'll have to leave all electronics here. Nothing goes beyond this point. We'll have to do a full body scan as well." The guard explained. "I'm sure you understand."

Sabo nodded, placing his wallet and phone into the tray before pulling his earpieces out, placing those in, and then removing the microphone clipped to the inside of his jacket. The security guard cocked an eyebrow as Sabo dropped the last piece into the tray and then extracted his keys and placed them on the desk to be retrieved later. "Wireless earphones." Sabo offered in answer to the guard's unasked question. "I also like hands-off phone calls so I need a mic to go with the earphones." The guard nodded and took the tray, shoving it into one of the empty compartments on the wall and locked it into place with a key. He then slapped a label onto the front of the box that read 'Sabo Outlook III' so that they knew which box held his stuff when he returned. Well, that was all potentially going to be a bitch to get back if things went south. He recalled that he wasn't going to have any means of communicating with anyone upstairs anymore, but he knew that there were at least cameras on him… hopefully. Unless things were going horribly wrong up there without Sabo's knowledge. It was certainly a possibility. If they were, he was trapped down here. The only way back up was through the elevator he'd just left. If something goes wrong….

"If you'd please just step through here, sir." The guard directed him, prompting Sabo to step forward and through the metal detector and full body scanner. Despite knowing that he had nothing on him that might trigger it, he was still nervous as he walked through it and generally was when passing through metal detectors in general. Like, what if a knife had somehow materialized in his pocket in the last five seconds and tripped the system? It was irrational and he had a lot more to worry about than that in this moment like: did they know what was going on? Did they know he wasn't supposed to be here? Was anyone down here aware of what was going on upstairs yet? If so, did they know it was connected to him?

The all-clear was given and Sabo was allowed to continue on. "Do you need any help getting around?" the guard asked, "I can call for someone to come and meet you."

Picking up his keys, Sabo shook his head "No, I'll be fine. Thank you. My dad told me where to look and how to get there." He explained, turning around and taking measured steps down the hallway. He read the signs next to the doors on the left-hand side as he passed them and was disappointed to find that they were all simply numbered. There were no doors on the right side save for one that was far ahead of him. He took the first right hallway, near the front of the relatively small basement. He didn't know _exactly_ where he was going but he remembered the location of the room he needed on the map and believed he could find it relatively soon enough. Sabo was sure that even Zoro couldn't get lost in the basement. There were only so many places to go. But Zoro's capacity for getting lost shouldn't be underestimated, either.

Glancing up at the camera following his motion from the corner of the hallway, Sabo turned to the left. He really hoped that it was Brook or Robin on the other side. He only had to take a few steps around the corner to find a door. This was the one.

There was a key fob next to the door and Sabo eyed the collection in his hands for something that might unlock it. There was a small card attached to the ring that he hoped went to this door and separated it from the other keys. He waved it over the sensor and the locking mechanism whirred to life, unlocking the door and allowing him entry.

The room was an office with a wall of windows across from him and to the right that gave him a view of the rows and rows of tall server towers covered in blinking lights on the other side. The room itself had a long desk with a three-monitor setup and the other two walls were lined with filing cabinets. There was a thermostat off to the right of the desk that read the temperature inside the server room, which had to be kept at a constant cool temperature to prevent overheating.

Separating the flash drive from the keys on the key ring, he approached the computer set up. If they were right, then this was the computer with access to the private server that would serve as their way in to get the files needed for their case. Sabo took the flash drive off the ring and then plugged it into the computer tower, dropping the rest of the keys on the desk. He shook the mouse to wake it up and a login screen appeared. Sabo drummed his fingers on the desk and chewed on his lower lip. He needed the new passwords and Teach was the only one that knew how to get them.

Sabo turned and looked up at the domed camera on the ceiling then the phone began to ring. Sabo eyed the phone apprehensively for a moment before lifting it off of the receiver and pressing the speaker button, laying the phone aside. "Hello?"

"Sabo, It's me. Teach." The voice on the other end of the line spoke. "I'm glad you made it this far."

"I'm going to need the new code for the password, can you get it to me?" Sabo asked.

"A piece of cake! Just as long as you get me access to that computer." Teach replied.

"You'll have to walk me through it." Sabo sat in the chair at the desk.

To start, Teach relayed to him the new password to get into the computer, reading off an 18-digit combination of numbers, letters, and symbols that didn't repeat. He then had Sabo open up the text editor and start typing out lines of code. Sabo couldn't understand most of it; he just typed whatever Teach told him to type. If only Apoo were down here, he'd know what the hell he was typing. Sabo could only hope it wasn't something nefarious. Teach then instructed him to open up the command line prompt and run the program. Teach asked him to read out the jumble of characters on the screen that Sabo could only assume was an encrypted code somewhere within a sea of data. There was a bit of a pause before Teach thanked him and asked to give him a moment.

Sabo stretched out his back and couldn't help but think that this was all too easy. The phone line hung up. A window appeared on the screen with a thin purple line across it.

"Thanks." Teach's voice spoke through the computer's speakers, the line bouncing with his voice, "This'll be a lot easier now that I have access. Just let me lock Crocodile's permission real quick and we'll have free range." Sabo sat back and watched as Teach did his work. Theoretically, Sabo's job was done now. He just needed all of the files on that flash drive and then he needed to get out of there. "Alright. Crocodile can't get in the way here and I'm sure your friend can handle him there while I do this."

"What now?" Sabo asked, eyeing the moving windows on the screen curiously.

"We break into some encrypted files and dump them on your flash drive, that's what." Teach said, pulling up password-protected folders. "It'll take time so keep a lookout."

"Will do." Sabo pushed back his chair and stood.

"Hey, and, thanks for getting me out, by the way."

"It's no problem. We'll figure something out for you as soon as we can. Once we're done here, Dragon'll put you and Brook onto hard drives and then we'll be getting you out of here for good." Sabo replied, leaning against the desk and gazing at the door. Glancing back at the computer, it was definitely obvious that having Teach do this was running a lot faster than if Sabo had done it. He saw file full of videos flash by and Sabo perked up "Hey, what was that? Those videos?"

A video player launched, a paused piece of security footage displayed within it. "This?"

"Yeah. What is that? Is it…" he took in the sight of the machinery, the empty gurney covered in restraints, the monitor next to it all. There was a date in the title of the video placing it a few years ago. Was it really…?

"It's exactly what you think is it," Teach confirmed. "It's footage of Jason Liebrecht's death."

Part of Sabo _wanted_ to watch it but part of Sabo really _didn't_ want to watch it, as well. It was that sick curiosity deep within him that just… wanted to know what they did, how they did it, and what it looked like. Sabo shifted his gaze to watch Teach continue his work transferring files from the private server to the flash drive. He reached out and touched the mouse tentatively. He paused his lips before pulling his bottom one in to chew on it. He clicked the play button. There was a moment's pause but then the sound of distant shouting and commotion filtered through the speakers. Eventually, the door was thrown open and a man was strong-armed into view of the camera. Sabo recognized him instantly as the last reporter who'd tried doing what he was doing now. Teach closed the video right there and opened another one, letting that one play instead. A scientist with a clipboard, gesturing to the gurney, was calmly leading a man Sabo didn't recognize into the room. The man willingly sat down. A stark contrast to the last video.

"That was me," Teach said, pausing the video again right there. "You can watch these all the way through on your own, but not while I'm tapped in, please." The video closed.

Sabo straightened and stepped away from the computers again. There it was. Video proof. Right before his eyes. He could hardly believe it. All this time theorizing and nowhere was the solid proof to back up his wild accusations. He just might be able to do this. He just might be able to prove to the world that something sinister is going on here.

"Shut these mother fuckers down." Teach growled, the last of the files queued for download as he worked on de-encrypting all of the ones already on the flash drive. Only four left and they were nearly complete.

Sabo quirked a half smile "We will."

"Will what?" a voice asked from behind him. Sabo froze, a chill going down his spine. He should have known that this was all going too easy. "I don't think you'll be doing anything, actually."

Sabo turned his head so that his good eye could peer over his shoulder towards the doorway to there Outlook was standing, his eyes icy cold as he stared right back at Sabo. Sabo fought the instinct to curl in on himself in fear and, instead, stood taller, shifting one foot to half turn his body towards the doorway. Next to Outlook was that bastard Smith with a triumphant smirk, and behind them were two of Outlook's bodyguards.

"Honestly, I'm surprised. I didn't think you had it in you." Outlook remarked dryly, stepping towards him. "And I really didn't think that you'd get _this_ far if you did."

"Everyone is going to know what you're doing here." Sabo declared, pointing back at the computer, "You can't stop this from getting out." His eyes cast about the room. Flash drive. Keys. Door to the server room.

"Oh, I think we can." Outlook replied.

The computer beeped as the flash drive was ejected for safe removal. Sabo twisted around and leaped the distance between him and the computer tower to yank out the flash drive, pick up the keys, and then bolt for the door on the other side of the room.

"Catch him!" Smith shrieked behind him.

Sabo threw open the door to the server room and ran. He spotted two guards approaching him from the other side of the room and could hear the two coming up behind him. Sabo swerved to the right and ran down one of the aisles between the tall server towers. One guard appeared in front of him and his fighting instincts carried over from the game took over. He planted his left foot and put the full force of his momentum into a right hook, his fist colliding with the face of the guard. He twisted his upper body back to slam his elbow into the sternum of the guard attempting to come up from behind him. Sabo heaved in a breath, already feeling a little winded. He cursed and shoved his way past the guard in front of him, wishing he had a blunt weapon like his pipe. The guard he shoved by attempted to snag him by the arm as he passed, but Sabo twisted out of his way and pushed forward. He didn't feel like he was nearly strong enough to take down trained professionals like he'd like to be. He wasn't his game avatar; he was just some guy who worked at a comic book store.

Staggering away from the two collecting themselves behind him, Sabo shoved the flash drive into his pocket and starting back down the aisle, moving faster as he went. He needed to get out of here alive. He needed to get this information to the surface.

A guard stepped into Sabo's path and he ducked around him. He finished his mad dash for the doorway and collided with it, fumbling with the handle so he could escape into the hallway on the other side. Just as he was managing to open the door, the guard he'd ducked around wrapped his arms around Sabo's waist and dragged him back. The door swung open as he was pulled back thanks to his grip on the handle. He let the door go as the second guard came at him from the side. He couldn't see him because he was on his blind side, but he could hear the footsteps approaching. Sabo lifted his foot and then slammed it down on the toes of the guard holding him from behind. The man's grip reflexively went slack with the pain and Sabo ripped himself out of his grasp. The second guard landed a solid punch to Sabo's burnt cheek and sent him tumbling into the wall, hitting his forehead in the process. Sabo swore and tried to get his bearings, feeling a hand on his shoulder wrench him around and push him against the wall. Sabo ducked as the fist that pushed him withdrew and, instead of connecting with his face, it smashed into the wall. Sabo stumbled to the side and tried for the door a second time, slipping through just as the other guard grabbed him by the jacket collar. A shift of the shoulders slid the jacket right off of him and Sabo escaped into the hallway.

A look left and right helped Sabo regain his bearing and place where he was in the basement. He hurled himself to the left in a sprint down the hallway in that direction. A green-haired figure walked out in front of him. Sabo gritted his teeth and kept running towards her. She would either have to move or get run over. He skipped to a step when he saw the first two guards that had been standing behind Outlook step out into the hallway to stand behind her. Sabo took a step back. A look behind and there was Outlook, Smith, and two bodyguards, a look ahead and there was Monet and the other two.

"It's useless, Bo, just give up and give me to the flash drive and the keys," Outlook ordered

That fucking file with Sabo's name on it. Sabo whipped around to face Outlook. He narrowed his eyes and clenched his fist as the reality of what was going on now washed over him. They were planning to kill him. Here. Right now. Tonight. Was there any way to stop it? Three people behind him, four in front of him. No path of escape. The only way up an elevator that would take too long to be of any use. Had it all been a trap right from the beginning? Were they planning for this to happen all along? It was pointless to keep running, Sabo knew that now, but he was not about to go down without a fight. Any time at all that could be bought for _something_ miraculous to happen was worth it. He might as well make it satisfying.

Sabo ran towards Outlook, Smith, and the two guards standing behind them. The look of momentary surprise followed by fear that flashed through his father's eyes as Sabo raised his fist would be enough to make whatever else happens today worth it. His fist actually connecting with Outlook's face only put the cherry on top of the whole moment.

Hands grabbed at his shirt and he twisted, ripping himself out of one of the guard's grasp. Sabo made eye contact with Smith and snarled, "Don't think I've forgotten about you." He grabbed Smith by the throat and slammed him into the wall.

"Ack! Get him off!" Smith yowled, hand flying up to cover his own face as Sabo's other fist rose to strike. Hands grabbed at his arms and tore him away before he could land a hit. A hand found it's way to Sabo's face and he bit down, hard, the taste of blood permeating his mouth. The guard behind him swore and the guard in front punched him in the gut, forcing Sabo to release the hand in his mouth as he grunted in pain. He keeled forward only to be grabbed by the hair and wrenched upright. Sabo clenched his jaw with pain, scrambling to dig his fingernails into the arm of the hand grabbing him by the hair. His face met the wall as he was slammed into it. Vision unfocused and brain scattered, Sabo tried to re-gather himself but all he could really focus on was the pain radiating throughout his skull.

"You just had to make this difficult," Outlook hissed in his ear.

Awareness came back to Sabo slowly as he struggled against the hands trying to restrain him. Both of his arms were wrenched behind him at an awkward angle and someone else scooped him up by the legs. The hand released his hair. Sabo was lifted off the ground and pulled into an open room. The computer, the machinery, the gurney with the restraints. The videos. Sabo struggled against his captors even harder, managing to free one foot and kick it up, just missing the chin of the man restraining his legs. Sabo was thrown onto the gurney. He tried to sit up, but one of the guards threw his weight into slamming him back down. Sabo was momentarily winded, gasping for air. A strap across his chest anchored down his upper body. A cuff on each wrist restrained his arms. A strap across his thighs to keep him from kicking. A cuff on each ankle to complete the capture. Sabo had no hope of getting out of this now.

"I can't believe you'd do something like this! Is this the _only_ reason you wanted me back!? To kill me?! Was this ever about anything else!? Was it!?" Sabo accused, still tasting blood in his mouth "You'd do something like this to your own son?!"

"Well, as you've made it painfully clear. You are not my son. And, besides, bringing you back was both the easiest way to keep an eye on you and to make sure that you were in reach when the time came. You've pushed up our plans, but we're flexible. We'll make it work." Outlook responded coldly.

"You're despicable." Sabo spat out.

"I don't understand why you're so mad about this. You should be excited! You should be _honored_. Doing this for me will make me _very_ happy. We're testing something new and, if it works, it will make me very _very_ rich. So be the good son you never were and be thankful I'm giving you the honor of being our new test subject." Outlook gave him a heartless smile and it was the last thing he saw before the massive machine was lowered onto his head.

Machinery began to hum to life all around him. Sabo grit his teeth and clenched his fists, pulling against his restraints, but then the void washed over him like an ocean's tide and everything went limp.

When he came to, the first thing he saw was his own gloved hands. He curled his fingers into fists and opened them back up again out of habit then snapped his head up to look around. There was nothing but open fields in every direction.

"Outlook!" he yelled, staggering around in a circle. He felt the panic rising up in his chest as he took in the emptiness of his surroundings. They were going to kill him. He was going to be stuck as an AI. He'd failed his mission. He was going to _die_ and there was nothing he could do to stop it. There was nothing he could do to _fight_ it. They'd gained nothing from this suicide mission. What were they going to do with him once they'd killed him? What was their new experiment? Would he even remember who he was once it happened? What would that even feel like? The questions all began to spiral and spiral around his mind. He was helpless. Hopeless. Trapped.

Sabo swiped his hand and no menu appeared. He reached back and there was no weapon to latch on to. He let out an angry shout and ran his hands through the long wavy locks on his head, his hat tumbling to the ground with the action. There really was _nothing_ he could do.

A holographic screen appeared in the air slightly above him, the movement in the air drawing Sabo's gaze towards it. What he saw looking back at him was Smith's face, grinning gleefully. "There you are! Good, wouldn't want you to miss the show!" Smith moved out of the way and a view of himself, limp body strapped down to a gurney with his head encased in a machine, came into focus. "You really did get _so close_." Smith's voice mocked.

Monet was hovering to Sabo's left, she dug her hand deep into Sabo's pocket and extracted the flash drive. She glanced at the screen with a wicked smile, holding it up for Sabo to see. "All your hard work. Right here. When I first met you, I had no idea you'd end up getting this far. I must say that I'm a little impressed." She palmed the flash drive and giggled, stepping close to the camera. "It's two birds with one stone, killing you."

"Go to hell." Sabo snarled. Despite knowing it was pointless, he still threw his weight forward into a punch at the screen floating there. His hand passed through harmlessly, the image merely shimmering at the intrusion before re-correcting to a position in front of him similar to where it had been before he'd moved. He growled in frustration, wishing there was something he could take it out on. Monet laughed at the effort.

"Bye, handsome." She winked, giggling as she left the view. "I'll leave the dirty work to you, Caesar."

With Monet out of the way, he had a clear line of sight towards himself once more. The fight drained out of him. What was the use? He could do nothing from here. It was pointless. ...what about Luffy?

"My most useless son will finally be of some use to me. Who would have thought?" Outlook's voice said off-screen. "Caeser, get ready. You know what to do." Outlook ordered.

"No." Sabo choked out. "Please." He whispered. His knees went weak and his eyes began to sting. He couldn't die like this. He couldn't leave Luffy like this. It wasn't fair, not to him. Losing both of his brothers in less than a year. Sabo didn't even want to imagine what that would be like. He didn't want that for Luffy. He was supposed to go back to him. Sabo dropped to his knees, the tears pooling on his eyelids "You can't." He pleaded, squeezing his eyes shut, tears spilling over. He leaned forward until his forehead rested against the grass, the grief over his situation washing over him in waves now. "You can't." He muttered a little louder, choking on a sob, his hands curling into fists. "Luffy, I'm so sorry." He ground his forehead against the grass in frustration, tears falling to the ground, "I'm a-a horrible brother. I can't... I can't come back to y-you. I," he swallowed around the knot in his throat and sobbed, "I failed.I tried but it _wasn't enough_." Sabo slammed his right fist on the ground. " _I'm so sorry!_ These last six months... It was all for nothing! I'm... I'm such an idiot!" Sabo shouted into the ground "You asked me to promise you but I... I couldn't. I couldn't and now I'm here. I should never have left... You don't deserve this..." Sabo heaved in a deep, shuddering breath, the tears refusing to stop now that they'd started.

"Why so sad? You should be thanking me. We're doing you a favor! If this works and we're able to successfully transfer your data into the new system, then you won't even know the difference! You'll be immortal! And isn't that what everyone wants?" Outlook mused.

Sabo lifted his head, watching his tears fall to the grass, gritting his teeth as anger bubbled up within him. "It's not at all what I want. It's never been anything close to what I've wanted. I can't leave everyone else behind! How can anyone be so _selfish_!?" Sabo looked up, glaring at the screen as hard as he could and hoping Outlook could see his face. "An existence like that sounds meaningless! It's empty! There is nothing ideal about it!" Sabo wiped the tears from his face with his sleeve and stood. "Why sacrifice innocent people in pursuit of some insane illusion of eternal life!? It isn't right. Injustices like this can't go unpunished. They _won't_ go unpunished. Even if _I_ failed someone else will succeed in my stead. You _won't_ get away with this."

"Rousing speech, but everyone who tries will fail in the end. Always have and always will. The government has a vested interest in seeing us succeed in our experiments. Any hint of what's going on here will be snuffed out before it gets out." Outlook remarked flippantly. Absolutely despicable. "You want to know why we sacrifice meaningless lives? Because the process hasn't worked yet. There is no guaranteed success rate. Every attempt has been a failure. The last AI we tried to transfer ended up so buggy that he had to be erased. We can't have that happening to us now, so you're all necessary sacrifices on the road to success." Outlook explained. "Your lives help us work out the bugs before the real work begins."

"You're all disgusting." Sabo spat.

"Everything's ready now," Caesar announced, stepping into view.

Sabo's shoulders sagged at the sight of the syringe in his hands. He closed his eyes tight and clenched his fists, unable to bring himself to watch. How could he? It was his life that was about to end. He was going to be trapped here forever and Luffy was going to be on his own. He was foolish to think that he could have done this. He should have just stayed home.

A crash. A yelp. A muffled shout. Sabo opened his eyes.

"What's going on out there?!" Outlook raged. "Caesar. Do it now!"

"Sir."

"GET YOUR FUCKING HANDS AWAY FROM HIM."

Sabo knew that voice. "Kid?" What was happening? He couldn't see anything. All he could see was his own body restrained to a bed and Caesar rushing to inject him. The scientist was wrenched out of sight. Smith wailed pathetically for his life, ordering guards to protect him. There were grunts of pain filtering in through the video. A metal hand darted across the screen and the whole scene shifted as the monitor was moved. He had to be either dreaming or hallucinating.

"Sabo! You're in there! Thank god. We're getting you out of there, okay?" Kid panted, looking exhausted. A trail of blood dripping from his nose and a split lip. There was a nasty looking bruise forming on his cheek as well. "Just hang tight, okay?" Kid twisted and his metal fist went flying, striking someone who'd been coming up behind him.

Sabo had so many questions. "How did you get down here? Weren't you with Koala? Where is she? How did you get here so fast?" He was baffled by what was going on. It almost felt too good to be true. He ran his sleeve over his face to wipe away any remaining residue from his tears.

"Questions later." A voice with a thick Brazilian accent answered. Dragon. His signature scowl appeared on screen for a moment before he turned towards the bed. "You're getting unplugged. Get ready." He moved to shut down the system but was pulled back. He twisted to punch the one who'd grabbed him in the face before turning back and powering down the system using the computer. Sabo closed his eyes and exhaled.

When he breathed in again, Sabo was sucking in air through his real, working lungs. He moved to pull the machine away from his face but was met with the restraints still holding him down. His breathing picked up. There was commotion all around him. He needed off of this gurney. _Now_.

The machine was lifted from his head and pushed to the side before the first hand restraint was undone. The chest restraint came off second and Sabo took the chance to sit up immediately, clawing at the restraint on his right arm to free it. His hands were shaking too much to be of much use, but he managed to undo it while Dragon worked his way around the gurney, undoing the restraints on his legs. Once freed, Sabo swung his legs over the side. He was still trying to wrap his head around what was happening. He was about to die and now he wasn't. Kid and Dragon were here somehow. Holy shit he'd almost died. There were bodies on the ground, hopefully unconscious. He could hear shouting in the hallway. He almost _died_. He put a hand to his forehead and stared down at the ground, trying to calm himself down. He could still taste blood.

Kid grabbed him by the shoulders and forced Sabo to look him in the eyes. "Sabo, Are you alright?"

"I... I don't know." Sabo admitted, hands coming up to rest on Kid's arms "They... He... Almost killed me. I thought I was going to die. I didn't think-You guys came? How did you get here? I thought you were with Koala?"

"I was, but remember when I said I had your back? As soon as it sounded like things were going to get hairy I started running. Back when you were in the office, still, actually. I wanted to head in right then, but I staked out in the parking lot instead to wait. When Robin alerted us that Outlook had arrived and things weren't looking good inside, I made my way here. I'm just glad I made it in time," Kid explained, patting Sabo on the crook of his neck and stepping back "That was way too close for comfort. I'd say you should have bailed when things started looking like they might go south, but we're both reckless sons of bitches and I'd be a hypocrite."

"You can say that again." Sabo sighed, but his mouth quirked a smile. He rubbed his wrists absently, still feeling the ghost of the restraints tying him down. "...Thanks."

"We'll just call it even now, eh?" Kid grinned. "You saved my life, I saved yours."

"I'm still grateful," Sabo admitted.

"Gross don't get all sappy and sentimental on me." Kid recoiled in mock disgust. "I'm allergic."

"Asshole. You can't say _shit_." Sabo laughed, Kid laughing alongside him. When he calmed down, he felt better. Less panicky. "So how did you guys get down here?" Sabo asked.

"Rewired the circuitry on the maintenance door." Kid shrugged like it was nothing, "But didn't have to do anything for the elevator"

"Why's that?" Sabo asked, head tilting to the side.

"Our little green haired harpy was just stepping out of it," Kid replied, gesturing over his shoulder. "Robin took care of her. Used her hand to open it back up again and her fingerprint to work the elevator."

Dragon re-entered the room, which surprised Sabo because he hadn't even seen him leave. "Let's move. We haven't got much time and I don't think it's going to be easy getting out of here." He held up the retrieved flash drive between two fingers. "Is this everything?"

"I think it is or it's at least enough, but." Sabo chewed his lower lip apprehensively. Sabo glanced down at his shaking hands and swallowed, taking in the bruised knuckles, torn skin, and dried blood. He must have caught a knuckle on someone's teeth or something. Sabo clenched his fists, felt the ache in the joints, and then shook them out. "Do you think... The footage from in here... Outlook said some things... It might... be good to have."

Dragon nodded "We will get that, get the AI, and then go. Can you walk?"

Sabo slid off the side of the bed, hands braced on the mattress as his feet touched the ground. He was steady, but he was still shaking slightly. His cheek, where he'd been punched, stung and his shoulders were sore from being wrenched behind him. Jesus, fighting in real life was even more of a pain than it was in the virtual world. "I'm sore but, otherwise, I should be fine."

"Good." Dragon said, stepping out of the room.

Another sweep of the room as they left made Sabo realize that the only people that were on the ground were three of the bodyguards and Caesar. "Where did Smith and Outlook go? What about Robin?"

"I'm right here." Robin said from the hallway before appearing in the doorway, the box with Sabo's things in hand "Outlook managed to get away, but I took care of Smith. He's passed out back there." She pointed over her shoulder with her free hand "I've wanted to do that since the day that monster became my boss." She looked smugly satisfied with that, wiping a streak of blood from her chin with her sleeve. "And the girl with the green hair is now handcuffed to the security desk in case we need her again."

"Hold up." Kid interjected, "Are you telling me that that weedy ass man with the pinstripes and the annoying voice was the one responsible for the fire and everything? Fuck." He ran his flesh hand through his hair and planted his metal fist on his hip, huffing out a breath "If I'd known he was Smith I would have punched him second, right after the creepy guy in the lab coat." Kid gestured to Caesar's unconscious form on the ground "I really missed my chance to punch him before he got away," Kid sounded honestly disappointed by that. Robin stepped into the room just before Dragon reappeared in the doorway, carrying the fourth unconscious guard across his shoulders in a fireman's carry.

Sabo took the chance to ask, "Where's Apoo? Why'd you leave him?" while Robin handed Sabo the box, which held his discarded jacket as well as the things placed in it when he got down to the basement.

Dragon dropped the guard to the ground and straightened, his brows furrowing further, "They found out where we were hiding. At the first sign of approach, Apoo ran and took all of the tech with him. I don't know where he is and so he is, therefore, a liability, but your safety" he nodded to Sabo, who was putting on his jacket "was higher up on my list of priorities. I left Koala in charge of tracking him down on her way to pick us up. Hopefully, she finds him."

Kid scoffed "Of course he ran, the man's a coward through and through. Always ducking out when things get difficult." He stepped out of the room "I'll get Smith" he offered before Dragon could move to do it himself.

Dragon gestured for Sabo to follow him and stepped back out into the hallway. Sabo finished cramming the rest of his stuff into his pockets and followed Dragon out, Robin trailing behind him. Down the hallway, Kid was grabbing Smith by an arm. He elected to drag the man down the tile floor rather than pick him up and took him back to the lab they'd just left. He 'accidentally' dragged Smith into the doorframe, muttering an unapologetic "oops" as he did so, and left him just inside the doorway. He rejoined them outside, closing the door behind him.

"You guys are going to get arrested for this and no one will ever know what you found here! You do realize that, right?!" Monet's voice yelled from down the hallway.

"Justice will always find a way to prevail," Sabo yelled back. "This _will_ come to light!"

Monet barked out a laugh, high pitched and sinister, "Well, of course it will! Justice _always_ prevails, no matter the side that wins."

"Ignore her." Dragon ordered, picking up his backpack and slinging it over his shoulder "Come." He gestured for them to follow him as he made his way down the hallway "We'll make sure this can't be ignored."

* * *

They made it back to the room within the server room, Sabo handing over Outlook's keys to Dragon as they approached in order to unlock the door. Both Robin and Kid elected to linger in the hallways to keep a lookout while Dragon and Sabo stepped inside. The computer needed to be logged into again, but Teach was able to easily access it and do it for them.

"You guys aren't going to be able to get out of here if you take both of us." Teach pointed out, a window providing Dragon with both the footage from the lab and an entire collected directory containing every single one of Brook's program files and the files that they referenced within them. The files began their transfer to Dragon's hard drive and, judging by the file size, it was going to take at least ten minutes.

Dragon frowned subtly, "They'll probably delete you if we leave you."

"They've been trying that for months, man. I ain't goin' anywhere. If they delete me? Doesn't really matter, either, does it? I'm already dead and this ain't exactly livin'." Teach replied. "All I care about is that these mother fuckers pay for what they've done. I don't much care about gettin' out of here, honestly."

"If that's the case, then thank you for the help you've been." Dragon answered. Sabo leaned against the edge of the desk and crossed his arms over his chest.

"My pleasure." Teach replied.

Dragon sat back in the chair as they watched the progress bar for the transfer of files. It was going to be a long process adapting Brook's programming to exist on its own and to get rid of all of the excess programming and information not needed outside of the One Piece game. Sabo gathered that it was a process that Celestial was still grappling with. They couldn't even guarantee that they could successfully extract Brook and adapt him for another system themselves, but they had to try and Brook had volunteered to do it. Sabo had to wonder, though, if they made a copy of Brook's code... Would the copy still be the real Brook who was once human? Would anything be retained? Would memories persist from the original to the copy? Would the Brook they are extracting now be the same as the Brook that was in the game? It was impossible to say until the process was complete and even then...

There was a knock on the door pulling Sabo from his thoughts and he straightened, crossing to the door and opening it to find Robin.

"Some of the guards are starting to wake up. Have you boys got everything yet?" She asked, peering around Sabo. Sabo turned to look back at Dragon as the man glanced back at them.

"Another few minutes and it will be done." Dragon replied, lifting the keys off the table and tossing them their way. Sabo completely botched catching them, a problem he's had since he went blind in his left eye, and had to bend down to pick them up instead, wincing slightly in pain as he did so. "Lock them in that room if you have to." Sabo held out the keys to Robin and she accepted them with a nod before turning and heading back down the hallway.

Once the files were done transferring, Dragon packed up everything and stood. He turned and locked eyes with Sabo for a moment before nodding in satisfaction, "Let's move."

* * *

A/N: Hi, everyone! Thank you all so very very very very much for your continued support as we approach the resolution of this fic. Every single favorite, follow, and review (especially the reviews) mean the world to me and each one makes me smile.

Alongside this chapter, I'll be posting three drabbles and one-shots as a further apology for the long wait. There are three of them in chronological order:

 **Steady** \- a drabble from Law's POV with some introspection while he operated on Luffy. Includes some backstory for him.  
 **It'll Catch You Unawares** \- A one-shot from Marco's POV that fills in a request by petite lili who wanted to know how the Whitebeards reacted to Ace's death  
 **Like Coming Home** \- A one-shot from Luffy's POV that fills in a request from Wordlet who wanted to know about Luffy's first dive following the fire.

So check those out if you're interested. They'll be joining the collection of in-universe drabbles and one-shots that I have already written. But these'll be the first to come with spoiler warnings for the fic attached to them xD if you guys ever want to know about any particular facet of the universe I've created here and would like to see me write a drabble or one-shot about it feel free to ask and I'll work on it and get it posted whenever the next set of drabbles and one-shots goes up (hopefully not a full year later like these were Dx). I've currently got one in the works about how Sabo and Kid met and became friends and a few more ideas rolling around/ roughly written. I'm always open to requests.

Anywho - Thanks for reading!

Next Time: Unforeseen Consequences

To be continued...


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